Dozens of airlines from Asia to the United States said they had carried out a snap software retrofit ordered by Airbus, and mandated by global regulators, after a vulnerability to solar flares emerged in a recent mid-air incident on a JetBlue A320.
Airbus
said
on Monday that the vast majority of around 6,000 of its A 320-family fleet affected by the safety alert had been modified, with fewer than 100 jets still requiring work. But some require a longer process and Colombia’s Avianca continued to halt bookings for dates until December 8.
Sources familiar with the matter said the unprecedented decision to recall about half the A320-family fleet was taken shortly after the possible but unproven link to a drop in altitude on the JetBlue jet emerged late last week.
Shares in Airbus were down 2.1% in early trading in Paris.
–Reuters–
