6,000 Airbus A320s grounded due to technical problem

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The queues were long on Saturday November 29 in the morning in front of the Air France counter at Roissy airport. Passengers have just learned that their plane will not take off.

35 cancellations were recorded on Friday November 28 and around fifty the next day in France. Cascading disruptions after the authorities’ decision to ground 6,000 A320 planes to urgently replace control software vulnerable to solar radiation. The fault was discovered during a JetBlue flight on October 30. The plane had to make an emergency landing in Florida (United States) after suddenly nosediving. “The rays penetrated inside the box which is protected. And inside this box, there is a small software which works with a microcomputer. This introduces data which distorted the calculation of the software”explains Michel Polacco, journalist, former aviator and aeronautics and space specialist.

This recall caused delays and cancellations all over the world, such as in Manila in the Philippines, or in Tokyo in Japan, or at Bogotá airport in Colombia. The faulty software update is in progress on most affected devices. In France, traffic should quickly return to normal, according to the Minister of Transport. “The maintenance operation was able to be carried out largely during the night, which allows us to say that the situation is normal, in Nice airport, but also in all the airports in our country”indicates Philippe Tabarot, Minister of Transport.

Air France indicated on Saturday November 29 that all its customers will be able to travel during the day. In total, around a hundred Airbus A320s out of the thousands flying around the world will be permanently unavailable.