European company Airbus has announced the immediate withdrawal and software review of around 6000 A320 family planes due to a vulnerability detected in flight controls. The issue arose after an incident on a JetBlue flight that made an emergency landing on October 30 in Tampa, Florida. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency will issue an emergency airworthiness directive.
Airbus has detected that intense solar radiation can corrupt critical data for flight control operations in A320 family planes, its best-selling model. According to sector sources, the measure would affect around 6000 planes, more than half of the global fleet, out of a total of 11300 in operation, including 6440 of the basic A320 model.
The incident that triggered the repair campaign occurred on October 30 on JetBlue flight 1230 from Cancún (Mexico) to Newark (New Jersey). The plane made an emergency landing in Tampa (Florida) after a flight control issue and a sudden altitude drop, with several people taken to the hospital.
Airbus has notified all airlines operating A320s to update the latest software version. The company acknowledges that these recommendations will cause operational disruptions for passengers and customers, especially before the busiest travel weekend in the United States. For approximately two-thirds of the affected planes, immobilization will be brief by reverting to a previous software version. However, hundreds may require hardware changes, implying weeks of inactivity.
Iberia is working to make the changes safely and states that tomorrow's operations will not suffer disruptions, with no cancellations or delays due to this reason. Airbus will keep informing on the situation's evolution.