Thousands of passenger planes need to be fixed to avoid pilots losing control during a solar storm

CNN

By Aaron Cooper, CNN

(CNN) — Thousands of the most popular passenger aircraft in the world need immediate maintenance to protect from a problem that injured passengers and caused an emergency landing last month.

Airbus found intense solar storms, like solar flares, could cause pilots to lose control of the Airbus A320 series of planes, including A319, A320, and A321s. About 6,000 of the single-aisle planes, which are the bestselling passenger aircraft in the world, need the repairs.

“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 said in a statement.

On October 30, JetBlue Flight 1230 – an A320 – was flying from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey when it suddenly dove down in altitude. The pilots made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, where about 15 people were taken to the hospital.

Airbus investigated the incident and on Friday told airlines in an “Alert Operators Transmission” that the fix was needed. The company believes it is the only time this specific problem has happened, but says it “proactively worked with aviation authorities… keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority.”

The Airbus A320 series has what’s called fly-by-wire controls: physical movements from the pilot run through computers which, in turn, adjust the plane’s control surfaces.

An airworthiness directive from the European Union requires airlines to make the repairs before the planes can carry passengers again.

Most planes can be repaired in about two hours, meaning that disruption seems relatively limited.

American Airlines has about 209 of the aircraft which need to be updated, less than the 340 it had earlier predicted, according to a statement from the airline.

“Anticipating emergency airworthiness directives from EASA and FAA, American began identifying and completing the software update, and we expect the vast majority of aircraft to be complete today and tomorrow,” the statement noted.

American said while it expects “some delays” as a result of the work, it is “intently focused on limiting cancellations — especially with customers returning home from holiday travel.”

It hopes to have all of the repairs made by Sunday.

Delta Air Lines said fewer than 50 of its A321neo aircraft will be impacted and the work should be complete by Saturday morning.

“As safety comes before everything else, Delta will fully comply with a directive and expects any resulting operational impact to be limited,” the airline said in a statement.

Six planes in United Airlines’ fleet are affected and there will be “minor disruption to a few flights,” the carrier said.

JetBlue, which operates a fleet mostly made up of A320 and A321 aircraft, did not say how many of their planes needed to be fixed, but told CNN in a statement it has already started repairs.

“Our teams are doing everything possible to minimize disruptions to customers as this work is completed,” JetBlue said. “We will notify customers of any flight changes and customers can always check their flight status on jetblue.com or on the JetBlue app.”

Southwest Airlines does not have any of the impacted aircraft.

Meanwhile in the Asia-Pacific, Jetstar Airways Australia, Air New Zealand, IndiGo and Air India Express have also taken precautionary measures.

Thirty-four of Jetstar’s 85 Airbus A320s are affected by the issue, the airline said. Around 90 flights have been canceled overall, affecting thousands of passengers, and further disruptions are expected through Sunday, chief pilot Tyrone Simes told reporters at Melbourne Airport.

Airbus and the European Aviation Safety Authority have told airlines to reverse the upgrade before letting affected planes fly again, Simes said.

In Europe, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, EasyJet and British Airways all said some of their aircraft were affected but downplayed the effect of that on their operations.

Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, noted that while most of its aircraft remain unaffected, it has taken “precautionary” measures, according to a statement on X, which did not give further details.

CNN’s Pete Muntean, Taylor Romaine and Laura Sharman contributed to this report.

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