Airbus Issues Major A320 Recall Live Coverage: Airbus ordered a sweeping recall for thousands of aircraft on Friday — sparked widespread alarm about a global flight disruption amid the festive season. Immediate repairs have been ordered before 6,000 of its widely used A320 family of jets can fly again. The bulletin has already prompted cancellation and delay announcements from multiple airlines across the United States to South America, Europe, India and New Zealand.
According to the company, a recent incident had revealed that solar flares may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls. Industry sources told Reuters that a JetBlue flight from Mexico to the United States had needed unexpected repair action — with several passengers hurt following a sharp loss of altitude. The aircraft had made an emergency landing in Florida after the flight control problem and a sudden un-commanded drop in altitude. The Federal Aviation Administration had also launched an investigation into the matter.
There are around 11,300 A320-family jets in operation across the world — including 6,440 of the core A320 mode. Four of the 10 biggest A320-family operators are major US airlines: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United Airlines. Chinese, European and Indian carriers are also among its biggest customers. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued an emergency directive on Friday night to make the fix mandatory.
What is the issue?
Sources told Reuters that the recall will result in only a brief grounding for approximately two-thirds of the affected jets as the airlines revert to a previous software version. The Airbus bulletin explained that the relatively simple process would take around two hours for each plane. But the developments come at a time when repair shops are being overwhelmed by maintenance work and labour shortages — with hundreds of Airbus jets grounded due to long waiting times for separate engine repairs or inspections.
An Airbus spokesperson estimated the repairs would affect 6,000 jets in total. The temporary groundings for repairs for some airlines could be much longer since more than 1,000 of the affected jets may also have to have hardware changed.
Who will be affected?
Multiple airlines have warned that the repairs could potentially cause flight delays or cancellations. Others including eastJet in Britain said they had already completed the changes.
American Airlines — the largest A320 operator in the world — said some 340 of its 480 A320 aircraft would need the fix. These are mostly expected to conclude by Saturday. Other airlines said they would take planes briefly out of service to do the repairs, including Germany’s Lufthansa , India’s IndiGo and UK-based easyJet. Colombian carrier Avianca said the recall affected more than 70% of its fleet, prompting it to close ticket sales for travel dates through December 8.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: IndiGo shares update, software fix nearly completed
IndiGo airlines said its software rework was nearing completion and insisted that the remaining aircraft would remain fully compliant within the required timelines.
According to a Reuters update, the engineering teams with the airline had already completed the update for 160 out of 200 AIB Mandated A320-Family Aircraft by 1:00 pm.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Air India leads rapid fixes, over 100 planes affected
Air India said it had initiated an accelerated software and hardware realignment programme across its Airbus A320 family aircraft following an urgent global directive issued by Airbus and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) addressing a potential safety risk.
The airline insisted that safety remained its “top priority” and confirmed that over 40% of its affected aircraft have undergone the mandatory reset by noon on Saturday.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Kuwait Airways heralds delays
Kuwait Airways has said that it is undergoing software updates with Airbus over its a320 fleet. The airline expects delay in some of its flights.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: IndiGo says no flight cancellations over software snag
An IndiGo source told ANI that there have been no cancellations of flights — only a delay in some cases — due to the Airbus software update issue. In the case of the flight delays, the IndiGo sources said there had been a maximum delay of 30 odd minutes. They added that 60 per cent of the IndiGo fleet has already complied with the requirement of Airbus.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: DGCA says updation completed for over half of affected planes
As many as 338 A320 family aircraft operated by Indian airlines require the software upgrade to address a potential issue related to flight controls, and modifications have been carried out in more than half of the affected fleet, according to DGCA data.
Sources told PTI that there are no flight cancellations, but there are delays in the range of 60-90 minutes for some flights as the software updates are being carried out for the affected planes.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Hundreds of planes affected in India – IndiGo, Air India work on software reset
According to reports citing the DGCA, 200 IndiGo airbus and 113 Air India jets have been impacted by the EASA directive. The Indian aviation regulator said that 25 Air India Express planes had also been hit. Both IndiGo and Air India are slated to complete their software reset by Sunday.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued an airworthiness directive banning the use of multiple models of Airbus family of aircrafts following concerns over safety risk regarding a software update by the company.
“This is to be ensured that no person shall operation the product which falls under the applicability of this mandoatroy modification except those which are in accordance with the compliance to requirement of Mandatory Modifciation(s)/application Airworthiness Directive(s),” read the order issued Assistant Director (Airworthiness) Nishikant Sharma.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Lufthansa likely to see flight cancellations
The German airline said it was expecting a small number of flight cancellations or delays over the weekend, as it would take a several hours per aircraft to implement the measures prescribed by Airbus.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Air New Zealand warns of flight disruptions
Air New Zealand stated in an official statement that it is experiencing disruptions on some flights due to a global Airbus software update required on all A320 aircraft.
The statement added that passengers travelling on affected A320 routes up to and including Tuesday, December 2, will be offered additional flexibility. Customers can make one free change to travel within seven days of their original booking, hold their fare in credit for twelve months, or request a refund, including for non-refundable bookings.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: DGCA issues order against resumption of affected flights until…
According to reports, the Indian aviation regulator has asked airlines to avoid flying Airbus A320 family planes until the modifications are carried out under the EASA directive.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Flights cancelled, delayed but airport operations unaffected | Video from Delhi airport
#WATCH | Delhi: Several airlines, including IndiGo and Air India, may face disrupted operations as Airbus' analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.… pic.twitter.com/joZKPqIHNz
— ANI (@ANI) November 29, 2025
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Budget airm of Australian Quantas cancels flights
Jetstar Airways, the budget arm of Australia’s national flag carrier Qantas, said on Saturday it was impacted by the recall affecting more than half of Airbus’ A320 global fleet of jets.
Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace group, said on Friday it was ordering immediate repairs to 6,000 of its widely used A320 jets, sparking disruptions worldwide. The fix mainly involves reverting to earlier software but must be carried out before the planes can fly again.
A Jetstar spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday that “Jetstar is impacted by an Airbus fleet software issue that’s affecting all A320 family operators globally.”
“To respond to a precautionary action from Airbus, we have cancelled some Jetstar Airways flights,” the spokesperson said.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Why have thousands of planes been recalled?
A recent incident had revealed that solar flares may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls. An Airbus statement added the company was seeking immediate precautionary action from operators to implement software and hardware protection and ensure the fleet remains safe to fly.
Industry sources told Reuters that the incident in question was a JetBlue flight from Mexico to the United States which needed unexpected repair action — with several passengers hurt following a sharp loss of altitude. The aircraft had made an emergency landing in Florida after the flight control problem and a sudden un-commanded drop in altitude. The Federal Aviation Administration had also launched an investigation into the matter.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Korean Air says work will conclude by Sunday morning
The South Korea based airline reportedly aims to finish the updation work by Sunday morning. A Reuters report quoted Korean Air as saying that only 10 aircraft had been affected by the recall.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: United Airlines says only six aircraft affected
According to an update shared by Reuters, United Airlines is expecting “minor disruption to a few flights” with six planes affected by the Airbus recall.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: American Airlines cuts number of jets needing software fix
American Airlines said on Friday it expects some operational delays due to a major software change on a significant number of Airbus A320 jets, initially adding that the issue impacted about 340 aircraft at the carrier.
After further clarification from Airbus, American said only 209 A320 family aircraft are affected, down from more than 340 initially identified.
As of 6 p.m. CT (0000 GMT), fewer than 150 aircraft remain to be updated, American said in a statement to Reuters. The airline expects the overwhelming majority to be completed overnight, with only a handful left for Saturday.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Japan’s ANA airlines cancels flights
According to a Reuters report, All Nippon Airways has cancelled 65 flights on Saturday after the recall. The carrier (along with affiliates such as Peach Aviation) is Japan’s biggest operator of single-aisle Airbus aircraft.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Air India warns about delays, shares message for passengers
#ImportantAdvisory
— Air India (@airindia) November 28, 2025
We are aware of a directive from Airbus related to its A320 family aircraft currently in-service across airline operators. This will result in a software/hardware realignment on a part of our fleet, leading to longer turnaround time and delays to our…
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: IndiGo issues advisory
“Safety comes first. Always. Airbus has issued a technical advisory for the global A320 fleet. We are proactively completing the mandated updates on our aircraft with full diligence and care, in line with all safety protocols. While we work through these precautionary updates, some flights may see some slight schedule changes,” warned IndiGo via X.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Can planes fly before implementing updates?
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued an emergency directive on Friday night to make the fix mandatory. The missive also stipulated that affected planes could only make “ferry flights” — without passengers — in order to get to a maintenance facility until the changes were made.
A later update from EASA reportedly indicated that an aircraft can continue operating until the end of today (23:59 GMT) in order to “allow aircraft to get to their destination and minimise disruption”.
Airbus A320 Recall LIVE: Airlines around the world announce delays
Several airlines including American Airlines, Delta, Air India and Wizz have announced potential service disruptions. Around 6,000 flights have been affected amidst the unlikely crisis — with various airlines taking different approaches to the necessary software upgrades.
American Airlines has rushed into overdrive after several hundred planes were affected while others such as the Colombian carrier Avianca opted to close ticket sales for travel dates through December 8. Many airlines have also issued follow-up statements after seeking clarifications from Airbus and local authorities.