Tech Airbus A320 software fix affects Japanese airlines

Airlines worldwide cancelled or delayed flights heading into the weekend after discovering that a software issue on a widely used Airbus model needed to be corrected. The trigger was an inquiry into a sudden altitude drop on a JetBlue flight the previous month, which suggested that strong solar radiation might corrupt data required for the A320's flight-control systems.


Airbus confirmed that this was what their investigation pointed to, and both the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency instructed carriers to install a fresh software fix. In the United States alone, the measure affects more than 500 registered aircraft. The European agency noted that the requirement could lead to short-term timetable disruptions, explaining that the fault stemmed from an earlier software update to the aircraft's onboard computers.

In Japan, All Nippon Airways, which operates 34 A320S, cancelled 95 domestic flights for Saturday, affecting more than 13,000 passengers. Additional cancellations on Sunday were possible, it said. [...] With 34 of ANA's A320 jets requiring a software fix, the cancellations are expected to impact about 13,200 passengers using Haneda airport in Tokyo, as well as those in Akita, Saga, Tottori and other prefectures, the airline said. Japan Airlines Co., the other major Japanese carrier, said its fleet was unaffected.

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The fix should take about two hours for many aircraft, and updates should be completed for the overwhelming majority on Friday. A handful will be finished on Saturday.

Having been a software engineer in a previous life I was always happy nothing I worked on was safety critical. So much can go wrong.