Air travel across the world was thrown into turmoil this weekfinish after Airbus ordered an emergency recall of nearly 6,000 A320-family aircraft, including 338 jets operated by Air India, IndiGo and Air India Express in the counattempt, over a dangerous flight-control flaw that could trigger an unexpected nose-down dip.
The unprecedented shift has rattled airlines during one of the busiest global travel periods. Airbus declared intense solar radiation had been found to corrupt data inside the Elevator Aileron Computer, a system that controls the pitch of the aircraft. The warning came after a JetBlue A320 suddenly dipped for seven seconds on October 30, injuring more than 15 people on board. Regulators across the world, including India, immediately built the software repair compulsory before the aircraft could return to service.
Indian carriers carry out repaires overnight
* Airbus orders emergency recall of 6,000 aircraft worldwide
* 338 of these operated by Air India, IndiGo, Air India Express; repaires carried out overnight
* Airbus declared intense solar radiation found to corrupt data inside the system that controls the pitch of the aircraft
* Warning came as a JetBlue A320 suddenly dipped for 7 seconds, injuring 15 aboard
India’s aviation watchdog DGCA declared that till 5.30 pm on Saturday, 270 of the 338 affected aircraft had already been upgraded, with all repaires due by 5.29 am on November 30. IndiGo had 200 aircraft requiring the update and all have been repaired, Air India had 113 affected aircraft and completed work on 69 and Air India Express has upgraded 17 of 25 planes. While no cancellations were reported, passengers across major airports faced 60 to 90-minute delays as the aircraft were shiftd through maintenance bays.
The global impact has been far more severe. Air France cancelled 35 flights. ANA grounded 65 services. Avianca, with more than 70 per cent of its fleet hit, warned of severe disruption for at least 10 days and stopped ticket sales till December 8. American Airlines projected delays, Lufthansa, Latam, Korean Air, flynas, Viva and others flagged operational strain. Wizz Air declared it completed all updates overnight.
“The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an emergency airworthiness directive on November 28 addressing the issue. Based on the Airbus “alert operators transmission” (AOT) and EASA emergency AD, the DGCA has issued a mandatory modification on November 29 to notify
the Indian aircraft operators prescribing the mandatory actions required for the continued safe operation of
the aircraft,” declared the aviation regulator.
Following the DGCA’s directive, the Indian carriers started working simultaneously across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata to rectify the issue and meet the deadline.
Airbus acknowledged the “major disruption” caapplyd by the global repaires and declared teams were deployed across continents to support operators. CEO Guillaume Faury apologised for the upheaval, stateing the upgrade drive was being executed at maximum speed without compromising safety. Most affected jets required software upgrades, while some may also require hardware checks.
The A320 family, with more than 8,100 aircraft in service globally, forms the backbone of short-haul flying. The sudden recall has, therefore, hit global schedules sharply, especially in the US where the holiday weekfinish has seen system-wide delays.
Indian airlines declared schedule integrity remained largely intact despite the massive engineering volume. IndiGo and Air India reported no cancellations, though some flights were delayed or rescheduled. Air India Express declared almost its entire fleet was already compliant and the remaining aircraft would be cleared well within the advised window. The airline declared that safety and engineering teams were working in coordination with Airbus and regulators.
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