India’s busy winter travel season is set for fresh turbulence after Airbus initiated an urgent global recall affecting about 6,000 A320-family aircraft — the workhorse of most Indian carriers. The move, triggered by a flight-control incident in the US, is expected to slow airline operations worldwide and could cause notable disruption in the Indian market, where the A320 dominates domestic capacity.
European plane-maker Airbus on Friday ordered an immediate software change across a “significant number” of A320-family jets, following findings that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to flight-control systems. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency will issue an emergency airworthiness directive to mandate the fix.
Industry said that roughly two-thirds of the affected aircraft will need a short grounding while airlines roll back to an earlier software version. The reminder of the fleet — expected to number in the hundreds — may require hardware replacements that could sideline jets for weeks.
For India, where the A320 family forms the backbone of fleets operated by Air India, IndiGo, Vistara, AIX Connect and Akasa Air, even short groundings are likely to ripple across schedules.
Air India, which operates one of the country’s largest A320 fleets through Air India and AIX Connect, issued an advisory warning passengers of possible delays.
“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 scheduled operations,” the airline said, requesting passengers to check flight status before travelling.
While IndiGo — the world’s biggest A320 operator — has not yet publicly detailed the scale of its exposure, aviation analysts expect the carrier to face operational pressure given its dependence on the model for both domestic and regional routes.
International carriers operating in India will also feel the strain. Wizz Air confirmed some of its aircraft require the software upgrade and warned of potential disruptions over the weekend.
The sweeping recall follows an incident involving a JetBlue A320 flight from Cancun to Newark on October 30, which diverted to Tampa after a flight-control problem caused an abrupt drop in altitude. Several people on board were hospitalised.
Airbus data show more than 11,300 A320-family jets are currently in service worldwide, including over 6,400 of the core A320 model — underlining the scale of the recall and the potential for global operational fallout as airlines rush to comply with the directive.