UK airlines swiftly implemented a software update for some Airbus A320 aircraft following an instruction issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency on Friday night. The precautionary action, triggered by a JetBlue incident last month, resulted in very few flight disruptions across Britain.
The update targeted one of the A320 family aircraft's onboard computers. Airlines acted quickly overnight to minimize passenger impact, with the Civil Aviation Authority confirming minimal disruption by Saturday afternoon. Not all A320 planes required the update – British Airways, for instance, only had three aircraft needing the fix.
Rob Bishton, CAA chief executive, praised the rapid response. «I want to thank the airlines for working at pace to take this precautionary maintenance action,» he said. «Thanks to their diligent and swift efforts, UK aviation has come together to minimise significant passenger disruption.»
Swift Overnight Action
Wizz Air successfully updated all affected A320 family aircraft during the night. Diarmud O Conghaile, the airline's chief operations officer, thanked colleagues «who worked tirelessly through the night to carry out the updates swiftly and efficiently.» EasyJet indicated potential schedule changes, with affected passengers to be informed.
Major airports reported normal operations Saturday morning. Stansted, Manchester, Heathrow and Luton all confirmed flights running to schedule. London Gatwick acknowledged the directive «may result in a small number of delays over the weekend» but expected no cancellations.
JetBlue Incident Sparked Update
The software fix stems from an incident last month when a JetBlue A320 suddenly dropped altitude, injuring at least 15 passengers and forcing an emergency landing in Florida. The October 30 event prompted EASA to examine the aircraft's systems.
Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury apologized for the disruption in a LinkedIn post Saturday. «Our teams are working around the clock to support our operators and ensure these updates are deployed as swiftly as possible to get planes back in the sky and resume normal operations, with the safety assurance you expect from Airbus,» he wrote.
The manufacturer suggested intense solar radiation might have corrupted critical flight control data. However, Professors Keith Ryden and Clive Dyer from the University of Surrey Space Centre disputed this explanation. «It's somewhat puzzling that Airbus refer to 'intense' solar radiation: on October 30, the aircraft concerned would only have experienced normal radiation levels for that altitude – there was no solar event of concern and no increase above normal,» they said.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander anticipated limited impact on UK airlines Friday night. «I would really like to thank the experts, staff and airlines who are working at pace to address this and reassure passengers that work is ongoing,» she said. «It is heartening this issue has been identified and will be addressed so swiftly demonstrating the high aviation safety standards globally.»
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
