Air India on Friday clarified that its flight operations remain unaffected despite the mandatory safety checks ordered for Airbus A320-family aircraft across the world. The airline confirmed that no flights have been cancelled, even as mandatory hardware and software realignments are being carried out following a global directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
In a statement, Air India said,
“There isn’t any major impact on schedule integrity across our network. Some flights may experience minor delays or rescheduling, but our ground teams are actively assisting passengers.”
The airline also revealed that it has already completed safety resets on over 40% of its affected aircraft and expects to finish the remaining fleet updates within the deadline set by EASA.
What Led to the Global Alert?
The emergency directive came after a JetBlue A320 incident on October 30, where the aircraft unexpectedly pitched downward without pilot input. A preliminary NTSB probe found that the sudden descent occurred during a switch change involving the Electronic Flight Control Computer (ELAC).
Further investigation revealed that intense solar radiation could potentially corrupt flight-control data, risking elevator malfunction. Airbus and regulators instructed airlines to perform immediate precautionary checks to avoid any chance of uncommanded elevator movements.
Impact on Indian Airlines
India, home to one of the world’s biggest A320 fleets, is significantly affected by the directive.
- IndiGo, operating nearly 350 A320-family aircraft, said most of its planes need only a software update and around 250 aircraft will undergo resets this weekend.
- Both IndiGo and Air India expect operations to fully normalise by Monday or Tuesday.
Despite the scale of the task, airlines have maintained largely stable operations with minimal disruptions to passengers.
