Today's Edition
PARIS (REUTERS)
Airbus fleets were returning towards normal operations on Monday after the European planemaker through abrupt software changes faster than expected pushed, averting a prolonged crisis over the discovery of a space-related computer bug.
Dozens of airlines from Asia to the United States said they had carried out a snap software retrofit ordered by Airbus, and mandated by global regulators, after a vulnerability to solar flares emerged in a recent mid-air incident on a JetBlue A320.
Airbus said on Monday that the vast majority of around 6,000 of its A320-family fleet affected by the safety alert had been modified, with fewer than 100 jets still requiring work.
But some require a longer process and Colombia's Avianca continued to halt bookings for dates until December 8. JetBlue said it would cancel 20 flights for Monday.
Sources familiar with the matter said the unprecedented decision to recall about half the A320-family fleet was taken shortly after the possible but unproven link to a drop in altitude on the JetBlue jet emerged late last week.
Shares in Airbus were down 3% after hitting their lowest since October 15, although analysts said the financial impact may be limited. Thales, which supplies the flight computers, lost 2%.
Following talks with regulators, Airbus issued its 8-page alert to hundreds of operators on Friday, effectively ordering a temporary grounding by ordering the repair before next flight.
“The thing hit us about 9 pm (Jeddah time) and I was back in here about 9:30am. I was actually quite surprised how quickly we got through it: there are always complexities,” said Steven Greenway, CEO of Saudi budget carrier Flyadeal.
The instruction was seen as the broadest emergency recall in the company's history and raised initial concerns of disruption.
The fix involved reverting to an earlier version of software that handles the nose angle. It involves uploading the previous version via a cable from a device called a data loader, which is carried into the cockpit to prevent cyberattacks.
