Airbus disclosed on Monday that a snag impacting “a small subset” of metallic sections on its A320 passenger jets has been found by the firm, this news arriving merely days after alerting the industry to a separate technical fault within its fleet.
The aircraft manufacturer is currently examining every jet potentially concerned by what it described as a “quality lapse from a supplier.” However, the spokesperson informed CNN that they anticipate only a fraction of these aircraft will necessitate further intervention.
“The origin of the problem with the metal panels has been pinpointed, contained, and all newly manufactured panels now adhere to every specification,” the spokesperson stated, emphasizing that the quantity of in-service aircraft affected by this matter remains “extremely low.”
Reuters initially broke the story on Monday, referencing information gathered from industry sources. Following the report, Airbus’s share price declined, compounding earlier dips. At the last calculation, shares were down by 5.7%.
Recently, Airbus was already facing intense scrutiny due to the necessity of issuing a software patch for its widely used A320 series after discovering that powerful solar phenomena, such as solar flares, carried the risk of causing pilots to lose control.
Airlines globally moved quickly to implement fixes on thousands of Airbus planes requiring immediate servicing to safeguard against the control issue, an incident which led to an emergency landing and injuries to passengers back in October. Close to 6,000 narrow-body aircraft required these remedial actions.
Last week, Airbus explained, “An analysis of a recent occurrence involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation possesses the capability to corrupt data vital to the proper operation of flight control systems.”
On October 30th, JetBlue Flight 1230—an A320—was en route from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, when it abruptly lost altitude. The flight executed an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, where approximately 15 individuals were subsequently transported to a medical facility.
JetBlue issued a statement on Monday confirming that it has “reverted to normal schedules” after implementing the mandatory software upgrades across its Airbus A320 fleet.
“We have returned to routine operations following compliance with the FAA’s airworthiness directive requirements, and we do not foresee any further disruptions related to this matter,” JetBlue declared in its release. “We greatly appreciate the extraordinary efforts of our crew members who worked around the clock to swiftly deploy these updates, and we thank our customers for their patience and comprehension throughout this period.”
On Monday, Airbus confirmed on its official website that the “overwhelming majority” of those roughly 6,000 aircraft have now “received the requisite alterations,” and that they are assisting carriers in modifying the fewer than 100 remaining models.
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