Global airlines faced mass cancellations after Airbus ordered urgent repairs to 6,000 A320 jets, grounding over half fleet and disrupting weekend travel.
Airbus has rectified most of its jets afflicted by a software malfunction after a technical problem grounded thousands of its flights, but its shares plummeted on Monday as it uncovered a separate issue with its fuselage panels.
Airlines around the world cancelled and delayed flights over the weekend as the French plane manufacturer ordered immediate repairs to 6,000 of its A320 family of jets, more than half of its global fleet.
Airbus said on Friday that research of a recent incident had indicated
“intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls”.
Only weeks after the A320 surpassed the competitor Boeing 737 as the most delivered aircraft, the notice signaled the largest recall in Airbus's 55-year history.
The recall also coincided with Thanksgiving weekend in the US, where the airlines Delta, United and American were left susceptible to the vulnerability during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
Approximately 6,000 A320 aircraft required hardware or software fixes to address the issues, according to a statement made by Airbus last week. On Monday it stated the “vast majority” of those adjustments were complete.
“Airbus apologises for any challenges and delays caused to passengers and airlines by this event,”
the company said.
There are currently less than 100 aircraft that still need the software update before they can return to service, Airbus stated in a statement. According to Deutsche Bank analysts, up to 15% of the aircraft might still need a hardware upgrade.
A spokesperson for Airbus said:
“Airbus is taking a conservative approach and is inspecting all aircraft potentially impacted, knowing that only a portion of them will need further action to be taken.
The source of the issue has been identified, contained and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements.”
EasyJet and Wizz Air, two London-listed airlines, informed investors on Monday morning that they had finished the software changes over the weekend without having to cancel any flights.
According to Reuters, American low-cost carrier JetBlue announced late on Sunday that it planned to cancel roughly 20 flights and anticipated being able to restore 137 of the 150 impacted aircraft to service by Monday.
Although they are still up over 20% so far this year, shares of Paris-listed Airbus have dropped by almost 4% over the last five days. The corporation, which is headquartered near Toulouse, employs roughly 157,000 people around the world.
How will this recall affect airline schedules and passenger refunds?
Airbus shares dropped 5- 7 on December 1 amid the extremity and disclosure of a separate fuselage panel disfigurement on some A320s( manufacturing excrescence taking examinations), compounding conservation backlogs from machine issues. This marks Airbus's largest recall in 55 times, just after A320 caught Boeing 737 in deliveries.
Passengers affected by cancellations or detainments were generally offered flexible options including free rebooking within a certain timeframe, trip finances to use latterly, or full refunds indeed fornon-refundable tickets. Airlines communicated through reserving doors and client service to grease these options as they worked to minimize trip chaos.
Overall, the recall caused short to medium- term schedule insecurity, localized traffic at major capitals, and nuisances for travellers, but airlines prioritized safety and aimed to restore normal service by early December 2025.