The airline Avianca announced, on Friday, the suspension of more than 70% of its fleet, due to an “urgent” update to the computer software on its A320 aircraft. Airbus, the manufacturer of those aircraft, informed him of the necessity of this upgrade. The airline explained in a statement: “Airbus has notified that a significant portion of the global A320 family fleet requires an urgent software update. For this reason, the aircraft in question must remain parked on the ground upon arrival at their maintenance bases until the work is carried out.” The company, which leads in Colombia with more than 40% of passengers, as well as in Ecuador and Central America, indicated that the measure will cause “major disruptions” in its activity during the next ten days.
Earlier, Airbus issued its own alert. He pointed out that “analysis of the recent event involving an A320 family aircraft revealed that intense solar radiation can corrupt data important for the operation of flight control devices.” Thus, it was also reported that a large number of aircraft of this model could be affected by this defect, which can cause an involuntary loss of altitude during flights or interfere with the correct functioning of the ailerons at the rear of the aircraft.
An Airbus spokesman, quoted by Evie, said that 85% of the affected aircraft required no more than a “simple computer modification” that could be implemented quickly. The other 15% will require deeper changes that require more time. Due to the emergency, Avianca announced the closure of the sale of travel tickets until December 8, which is the date that marks the beginning of the Christmas season in several countries, “to avoid a greater impact and be able to rearrange passengers on available flights.”
The Airbus A320 is designed for short and medium-haul flights, and is one of the company’s best-selling aircraft, with about 11,300 copies in operation around the world. Of all these cases, about 6,000 require review in which Avianca saw its activities affected. The flight in which the accident that led to the inspection occurred was covering the route between Cancun (Mexico) and New Jersey (United States), on October 30, and was forced to make an emergency landing at Tampa Airport.
Apart from Avianca, among the airlines that usually use this type of aircraft are the Spanish company Iberia or Vueling. Other European airlines that are among Airbus’ customers include British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, TAP, Aer Lingus, ETA and easyJet. In America, brands such as LATAM, Delta, United or American Airlines – which will have to modernize 340 of its 480 A320 aircraft – also have examples of the model that Airbus has begun examining.