Airbus A320 Malfunction: What IndiGo, Air India Passengers Must Know Amid Flight Disruptions
Air India has confirmed that there have been no cancellations due to the task and that there isn't any major impact on schedule integrity across the network.
Flight passengers may experience inconvenience in the coming days as major Indian airlines prepare to address a newly flagged safety issue affecting Airbus A320 family aircraft. Many Indian airlines have alerted passengers about possible disruptions in flight operations.
Airbus has 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.
A software upgrade is needed in the affected aircraft because a faulty Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC) can trigger uncommanded pitch-down movements. Generally, ELAC is for flight controls. An Airbus A320 recently experienced such an event, leading to a brief and limited loss of altitude, Airbus said in a notification on Friday, as per a PTI report.
Airlines Alert Passengers About Possible Disruptions
Private budget airline IndiGo is working closely with Airbus to ensure minimal disruptions.
“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. While we carry out the necessary inspections, we are making every effort to minimise disruptions. We regret any inconvenience this unforeseen situation may cause to our customers and appreciate their understanding. IndiGo is committed to the safety of its customers and staff, and treats safety as its topmost priority,” IndiGo told NDTV.
Earlier, Air India had informed its passengers about anticipated flight disruptions via the X platform. However, Air India has confirmed that there have been no cancellations due to the task and that there isn't any major impact on schedule integrity across the network.
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“We are aware of a directive from Airbus related to its A320 family aircraft currently in-service across airline operators. This will result in a software/hardware realignment on a part of our fleet, leading to longer turnaround time and delays to our scheduled operations,” the airline said.
Around 25 A320 family planes of Air India Express are likely to be impacted due to this disruption. Airlines are now expected to shuffle schedules or cut flight frequencies to deal with the disruptions.
In some cases, they are also expected to deploy spare aircraft to manage the flights. Still, normal operations could remain impacted for the next few days. Passengers who are planning to travel soon via flights are advised to frequently check with the airlines to stay updated.
Which Airlines Will Be Affected?
In view of the incident, around 3438 aircraft in India have been impacted. Indian airlines operate roughly 560 A320 family planes, making this one of the largest single-type fleets in the world.
IndiGo, Air India, and Air India Express will be the most affected, as they rely heavily on the A320 series for domestic and regional routes.
This means that passengers with scheduled flights on IndiGo, Air India, and Air India Express are likely to face inconvenience due to flight disruption.
The carriers are now planning phased maintenance to minimise disruption, but delays and cancellations are expected. According to the officials, the grounding process cannot be postponed because the issue involves systems critical to flight safety.
