Airbus‘ announcement on Friday evening caused widespread disruption around the world. “However, as is always the case in aviation, safety takes precedence over everything,” underlined the European aviation regulator (EASA).
The day after the Airbus announcement, which recalled some 6,000 A320 aircraft to urgently replace control software vulnerable to solar radiation, the consequences are quite serious for air traffic. Le Figaro takes stock of the situation:
-HAS Roissyin the Paris region, flights to Birmingham, Madrid or Tunis, which were due to take off Friday evening were canceled immediately. Same case at Orly, for flights to Marseille, Ajaccio or Nice. Around fifteen flights in Paris were affected in total on Friday evening. The Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group indicates to Figaro that a few dozen flights will be disrupted this Saturday. “Customers will be notified in advance”we are told.
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Air France, for its part, affirmed Figaro having canceled «35 vols» Friday evening. “Our flight program is being updated for the day of the 29th. Customers affected by cancellations are informed individually by SMS and email”specifies the airline.
Varies depending on the company
-American Airlines told AFP it had already started updating the navigation software after receiving the notification on Friday. The company anticipates that the intervention will have been carried out on “the vast majority” of the approximately 340 A320 aircraft affected (it has 480 in total) in its fleet by Saturday. “Some delays” will be due to these adjustments.
After having initially assured not to be “affected”its competitor United Airlines finally counted six aircraft affected and said it expected “minor disruptions on a few flights”.
Indigo and Air India, two of the main Indian airlines, have warned of delays due to the immobilization of certain aircraft. As for Delta Air Lines, it expected to have carried out the necessary updates by Saturday morning, on some of its A320 and A321neo.
Some companies are particularly affected. The Colombian Avianca, for example, estimates that 70% of its fleet is affected, and foresees “significant disruptions in the next ten days”she wrote in a press release. Ticket sales are suspended until December 8.
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-In the Philippines, local companies Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific had to cancel more than 40 flights and offered refunds and date changes to injured passengers.
