NEW DELHI: Air travel will get every impacted in India and across the globe with the world’s largest selling single aisle — Airbus A320 family of planes — going to be grounded this weekend for a software upgrade. In India, over 350 A320 family planes of IndiGo and Air India Group will be grounded for this upgrade that is expected to be over in 2-3 days. They are expected to resume flying by next Monday or Tuesday. Globally about 6,000 aircraft are likely to be impacted.
The upgrade is in wake of an American low cost carrier JetBlue’s A320 operating from Cancun to Newark on Oct 30, 2025, “unexpectedly pitch(ing) downward without pilot input.” The uncontrolled descent “likely occurred during an ELAC (flight control computer) switch change,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The aircraft diverted to Tampa, where some passengers were hospitalised.
Tackling this issue requires a software upgrade. For the new A320 family planes, the work requires about half an hour on each plane through “loading facility.” On older A320s, some hardware upgrade will also be required and hence the overall work will take longer.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued an emergency airworthiness directive (EAD) for Airbus A320 family of planes which “may unfortunately cause disruption to flight schedules and inconvenience to passengers. As is always the case in aviation, safety is paramount.”
In India, almost all IndiGo A320 family planes are the new variants. The older A320s are in single digits. So IndiGo, which has over 350 A320 family planes in its fleet, upgrade on the required 250 aircraft should be over by Monday or Tuesday, said sources. Air India, which has about 120-125 A320 family planes, should also have the same situation, with over 100 impacted.
Air India said on X early Saturday morning: “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. Air India regrets any inconvenience this may cause to passengers till the reset is carried out across the fleet.”
Airbus said in a statement: “Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls. Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted. Airbus has worked proactively with the aviation authorities to request immediate precautionary action from operators via an alert operators transmission (AOT) in order to implement the available software and/or hardware protection, and ensure the fleet is safe to fly. This AOT will be reflected in an emergency airworthiness directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).”
Airbus “acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers” and apologised “for the inconvenience caused”. The European airspace major said it “will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority.”
In its emergency airworthiness directive regarding the issue, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) gave the reason for the same: “An Airbus A320 aeroplane recently experienced an uncommanded and limited pitch down event. The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude, and the rest of the flight was uneventful. Preliminary technical assessment done by Airbus identified a malfunction of the affected ELAC as possible contributing factor. This condition, if not corrected, could lead in the worst-case scenario to an uncommanded elevator movement that may result in exceeding the aircraft’s structural capability. To address this potential unsafe condition, Airbus issued the alert operators transmission, providing instructions to install a serviceable ELAC.”
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