NEW DELHI, India — Air travel across India and multiple other countries is expected to face major disruption this weekend after global aviation regulators ordered immediate software updates for the Airbus A320 family of aircraft over concerns that solar radiation could interfere with critical flight systems. Aviation experts have described the situation as “a major air crisis,” warning of ripple effects on safety, tourism, and business travel.
Aviation expert Subhash Goyal told IANS that the scale of the issue is significant both globally and domestically. “There are over 6,000 Airbus A320 aircraft worldwide that could be affected, with around 250 in India. For the newer models, software updates take 2–3 hours, but for older A320s, updates may take 1–2 days. This is an air crisis which will affect both tourism and business trades,” he said.
Goyal explained that the concern surfaced after a mid-air pitch-down incident involving an Airbus A320. “This crisis suddenly arose because when an Airbus 320 was coming in, it suddenly went down mid-air. It is said that extra radiation is causing hits due to which these problems come. The ELAC system, when an aircraft switches over, can get affected,” he said, referring to the Elevator Aileron Computer, a core flight-control component.
Aviation expert Sanat Kaul shared a similar assessment, stressing that Airbus has instructed airlines to update onboard systems without delay. “Airbus has stated that their software needs to be upgraded; otherwise, it could get damaged. The damage could affect either software or hardware, which is why they have instructed that all their airplanes undergo the software update,” he said.
The global directive comes after a safety investigation into an October 30 JetBlue flight from Cancun to Newark, during which the Airbus A320 abruptly pitched down, injuring 15 passengers. The aircraft diverted to Tampa for medical assistance. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board later linked the event to a flight-control fault triggered during a system-switching event.
Following the findings, regulators including the European Aviation Safety Agency and Airbus issued mandatory directives requiring operators to install the updated software.
In India, more than 350 A320-series aircraft flown by IndiGo and the Air India Group will undergo the upgrades, temporarily reducing capacity through the weekend. Newer aircraft may need only 30 minutes for the update, while older jets could require two to three days due to additional hardware adjustments. Airlines expect operations to normalize by December 1 or 2.
Airbus confirmed that the root concern involves strong solar radiation potentially corrupting critical flight-control data on certain A320-family jets. The mandated update is designed to remove that vulnerability and ensure continued safe operations. (Source: IANS)
