Thousands of Airbus planes had to be grounded for a software update after it was discovered that intense solar radiation could interfere with onboard flight control computers.
Around 6,000 A320 planes were thought to be affected – half the European firm’s global fleet – but many were able to fly again within hours after undergoing the update. UK’s aviation regulator said there would be “some disruption and cancellations to flights” though the impact at airports appears to be limited.
Airbus said it discovered the issue after an investigation into an incident in which a plane flying between the US and Mexico suddenly lost altitude in October. On Friday, Airbus said intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft, and that the software changes required to fix the issue would cause operational disruptions.
Indian Airlines complete software upgrade on majority of A320 planes
IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express on Saturday started carrying out software upgrade of A320 family planes to address a potential flight control issue, and requisite modifications have been done for 80 per cent of the affected 338 aircraft, an exercise that also resulted in delays and some flight cancellations.
According to the latest data from the aviation regulator DGCA, IndiGo and Air India did not cancel any flights, while Air India Express cancelled four flights due to the system modification process. Flight delays have been 60-90 minutes at various airports, sources said. On Friday, Airbus said intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft and that the software changes required to fix the issue would lead to operational disruptions.
As many as 338 A320 family aircraft operated by Indian airlines require the software upgrade to address a potential issue related to flight controls, and modifications have been carried out in 80 per cent of the affected fleet, according to DGCA data. The software upgrades have been completed for 270 A320 family planes out of the total 338 aircraft, as per the data available with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) till 5.30 pm on November 29.
A total of 200 IndiGo planes have been affected, and software upgrades have been completed for 184 of them, while in the case of Air India, 113 aircraft have been impacted and upgrades have been done for 69 of them, DGCA data showed.
In the case of Air India Express, 25 planes have been impacted, and software upgrades have been completed for 17 aircraft as of 5.30 pm, according to data.
The software upgrades are being undertaken at the bases of the airlines in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.
Software upgrades on all affected planes are to be completed by 5:29 am on November 30.
DGCA on Saturday issued an Airworthiness Directive to airlines asking Indian operators to carry out the requisite software upgrades immediately.
This followed Airbus issuing an alert to operators globally and the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) coming out with an Emergency Airworthiness Directive regarding the potential issue.
On Friday, EASA said Airbus asked airline operators to install a serviceable Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC) in the impacted aircraft. ELAC is for flight controls.
IndiGo, which operates over 2,300 flights daily, said that no flights have been cancelled as a result of the checks carried out on A320 family planes, but a few flights may experience minimal delays.
There have been no cancellations due to the task, and there is no major impact on schedule integrity across its network. However, some flights may be slightly delayed or rescheduled, Air India said in the morning.
Most of the nearly 6,000 affected aircraft worldwide need software upgrades, while some might require hardware realignment.
There are over 8,100 A320 family planes in service worldwide. These include A319s, A320 ceos and neos, and A321 ceos and neos, data from aviation analytics company Cirium showed.