Indian Airlines Upgrade A320 Fleet After Airbus Alert

indigo, air India, and Air India Express began software upgrades on their A320 family planes Saturday to address a potential flight control issue. Modifications are complete on 80 percent of the 338 affected aircraft,though the process caused delays and some flight cancellations.

According to the latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), indigo and Air India did not cancel any flights. Air India Express cancelled four flights due to the system modification process.

Flight delays ranged from 60 to 90 minutes at various airports, sources reported.

Airbus stated Friday that intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to flight controls in a meaningful number of A320 family aircraft. The necessary software changes to fix the issue would led to operational disruptions.

The DGCA data indicates that 338 A320 family aircraft operated by Indian airlines require the software upgrade to address the potential flight control issue. As of 5:30 pm on November 29, upgrades were completed on 270 planes.

A total of 200 IndiGo planes were affected, with software upgrades completed on 184. Air India had 113 impacted aircraft, and upgrades were completed on 69. Air India express reported 25 affected planes,with 17 upgraded as of 5:30 pm,according to DGCA data.

The software upgrades are being performed at airline bases in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata.

Airlines aim to complete software upgrades on all affected planes by 5:29 am on November 30.

The DGCA issued an Airworthiness Directive Saturday, instructing Indian operators to immediately carry out the required software upgrades. This followed Airbus’s global alert to operators.