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Several carriers on Saturday including Air India (pictured) say they had finished or nearly completed the fix to their fleets after a software glitch on Airbus A320 jets.Amit Dave/Reuters
Global airlines scrambled to fix a software glitch on Airbus A320 jets on Saturday as a partial recall by the European planemaker halted hundreds of flights in Asia and Europe and threatened U.S. travel over the busiest weekend of the year.
Airlines worked through the night after global regulators told them to remedy the problem before resuming flights. Several carriers on Saturday said they had finished or nearly completed the fix to their fleets, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Air India, Delta Air Lines and Hungary’s Wizz Air. Many reported no impact on operations.
The overnight effort by airlines appeared to help head off the worst-case scenario and capped the number of flight delays in Asia and Europe. In the United States, which will face high demand after the Thanksgiving holiday period, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that impacted U.S. carriers “have reported great progress, and are on track to meet the deadline of this Sunday at midnight to complete the work.”
Earlier: Airlines warn of global travel disruptions after Airbus recall of 6,000 jets
He said on X that travellers “SHOULD NOT expect any major disruptions.”
Asia-based aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said the update was “not as chaotic as some people might think,” although “it does create some short-term headaches for operations.”
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury apologized to airlines and passengers after the surprise recall of 6,000 planes or more than half of the global A320-family fleet, which recently overtook the Boeing 737 as the industry’s most-delivered model.
“I want to sincerely apologise to our airline customers and passengers who are impacted now,” Faury posted on LinkedIn.
The alert landed at a time of day when many European airlines and Asian airlines are winding down their schedules, but in the United States, however, it came during the day ahead of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel weekend.
American Airlines, the world’s largest A320 operator, said 209 of its 480 jets needed the fix, below initial estimates, most of which it expected to complete by Saturday. United Airlines told Reuters on Saturday that all its aircraft had been updated.
By Saturday, Airbus was telling airlines that repairs to some of the A320 jets affected may be less burdensome than first thought, industry sources said, with fewer than the original estimate of 1,000 needing the time-consuming hardware changes.
Even so, industry executives said the abrupt action was a rare and potentially costly headache at a time when maintenance is under pressure worldwide from labour and parts shortages.
