The aircraft, which is heavily used by commercial airlines around the world, needs a software fix to resolve an issue that has caused a sudden drop in performance. JetBlue aircraft altitude Last month, the manufacturer and European aviation safety regulators said Friday.
The move could lead to some flight delays as American travelers return home from the Thanksgiving holiday.
Airbus said an analysis of the JetBlue incident showed that intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on A320 family aircraft.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has issued a directive requiring A320 operators to address the issue. The agency said this could lead to “short-term disruption” to flight schedules.
American Airlines operates approximately 480 A320 family aircraft, of which 209 are affected. The fix should take about two hours for many planes, with updates for the vast majority expected to be completed on Friday, the airline said. Some of them will be finished on Saturday.
American Airlines expects some delays but says it is focused on limiting flight cancellations as customers return home from Thanksgiving travel. He said safety would be his top priority.
Delta said it expects the problem to affect fewer than 50 of its A321neo aircraft. United said six planes in its fleet are affected and minor disruptions are expected on a few flights. Hawaiian Airlines said it had no impact.
Mike Stengel, a partner at aerospace management consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the fix could be addressed between flights or during nightly inspections of the aircraft.
“It’s definitely not ideal for something like this to happen on a ubiquitous airplane during a busy holiday weekend,” Stengel said. “Although, again, the upside is that updating the software will only take a few hours.”
At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to the hospital after the Oct. 30 incident. board a flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.
Airbus is registered in the Netherlands, but its main headquarters is in France.
It is one of the world's largest aircraft manufacturers, along with Boeing.
According to Stengel, the A320 is the main competitor of the Boeing 737. Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s, and aircraft in this category are called A320neo, he said.
According to the Airbus website, the A320 is the world's best-selling family of narrow-body aircraft.
