Flights resume as normal after software update warning

Thousands of Airbus planes are being returned to normal service after being grounded for hours over warnings that solar radiation could interfere with onboard flight control computers, officials say.

The France-based aerospace giant said about 6,000 of its A320 aircraft were affected, with most requiring a quick software update. About 900 older aircraft need replacement computers.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the update “went very smoothly” for more than 5,000 planes.

According to local media, Airbus had told them that “fewer than 100 planes” still needed the update.

“Software updates had already been released overnight to almost all devices,” Tabrot said.

On Saturday morning, Air France experienced some disruption, with several flights in and out of Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport delayed or cancelled.

But while flights saw limited disruption, he said it was more complicated “in other countries”, such as the US, where the issue emerged on the same weekend as Thanksgiving – one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

American Airlines said 340 of its planes were affected and it expected “some operational delays,” but added that most updates were being completed Friday or Saturday. Delta Airlines said it believed the impact on its operations would be “limited.”

In the UK, disruption at airports has been limited. London’s Gatwick Airport reported “some disruption”, while Heathrow said it had experienced no cancellations. Manchester Airport said it did not anticipate significant problems.

It is understood that British Airways and Air India will not be significantly affected by the issue.

On Saturday, easyJet said it had completed updates on a “significant number” of its planes, and planned to operate as normal.

Wizz Air is also running normally, it has released an update overnight.

In Australia, budget airline Jetstar canceled 90 flights after confirming about a third of its fleet was affected, with the disruption expected to continue throughout the weekend despite most planes having already been updated.

Airbus became aware of the issue when a JetBlue Airways plane flying between the US and Mexico suddenly lost altitude and made an emergency landing in October. At least 15 people were injured.

The firm identified a problem in the aircraft’s computing software that calculates the aircraft’s altitude, and found that at high altitudes, the intense radiation periodically released by the Sun could corrupt the data.

The company’s best-selling aircraft, the A320, as well as the A318, A319 and A321 models were also affected.

While the problems on about 5,100 planes could be solved with a simple software update, for about 900 of the older planes, a replacement computer would be required.

These planes will have to be grounded until a solution is found.

The time taken will depend on the availability of the replacement computer.