After Software Glitch, Airbus Finds Quality Issue Affecting Dozens Of A320 Jets: Report
This comes days after flight operations across the globe took a hit from Friday to Saturday morning after the European aircraft manufacturer put out a directive to repair 6,000 of the A320 fleet.
Airbus has found an industrial quality issue affecting fuselage panels of several dozen A320-family aircraft, said industry sources speaking to Reuters on Monday.
The suspected issue with the production flaw is further delaying some deliveries but there are no immediate indications that it has reached the aircrafts that are in service, according to the report.
This comes days after flight operations across the globe took a hit from Friday to Saturday morning after the European aircraft manufacturer put out a directive to repair 6,000 of the A320 fleet.
The repair refers to realignment of software, which must be done before the aircrafts fly again. The directive came after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued the global mandate as a preliminary investigation linked a fault in the Elevator and Aileron Computer to an incident in October where a JetBlue aircraft experienced an uncommanded drop in altitude.
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Airbus had said in a statement that A320 family jets are required to undergo software upgrades as intense solar radiation may corrupt data linked to flight-control systems in some aircraft. A few jets might also need hardware realignment to ensure safe operations.
As a result, airlines will need to ground affected aircraft while the fixes are carried out. The A320 family aircraft includes A319s, A320 ceos and neos, and A321 ceos and neos.
Many Indian airlines have alerted passengers about possible disruptions in flight operations.
“We are aware of a notification issued by Airbus, the manufacturer of the majority of our fleet, pertaining to the A320-family. We are working closely with Airbus to ensure implementation as per Airbus notification,” IndiGo told NDTV. As of Saturday, total of 200 IndiGo aircrafts were affected. Around 160 aircrafts have already gone through the software update.
Air India, meanwhile, had 113 aircraft impacted due to the mandate. Forty-two of them have gone through the software upgrade whereas only four out of Air India Express' 25 impacted aircraft have gone through the update.
