Airbus ordered the immediate repair of 6,000 of its widely used A320 family of jets in a large-scale recall affecting more than half the global fleet, threatening upheaval during the busiest travel weekend of the year in the United States and disruption worldwide, Reuters reported on Friday.
Airbus announced that intense solar radiation could distort critical flight-control data on about 6,000 aircraft in the A320 family.
The setback appears to be among the largest recalls affecting Airbus in its 55-year history and comes weeks after the A320 overtook the Boeing 737 as the most-delivered model. At the time Airbus issued its bulletin to the plane’s more than 350 operators, some 3,000 A320-family jets were in the air.
Airlines in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including American Airlines, Delta, United, Air India, Wizz Air, Avianca, British Airways, ANA, and Air New Zealand, are affected, with several already reporting cancellations and delays.
American Airlines said some 340 of its 480 A320 aircraft would need to be fixed. It said it mostly expected these to be completed by Saturday, with about two hours required for each plane.
Delta Airlines said updates to a small portion of its Airbus A320 planes will likely be completed by Saturday morning, a spokesperson said.
The warning follows an incident reported by JetBlue on October 30, when an A320 abruptly lost altitude, forcing an emergency landing and sending several passengers to the hospital.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ordered airlines to update aircraft software before continuing normal operations. Carriers have been granted temporary operating permission until November 30.
Airbus apologized for the disruption and stressed that safety remains its top priority, saying it is working closely with airlines and regulators to resolve the issue.
Source: tovima.com
