At least 14,000 passengers have been affected by widespread flight cancellations and delays across the Philippines after a technical glitch involving Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft forced airlines to ground dozens of planes.
The disruption followed an Airbus advisory ordering operators to conduct urgent software fixes after a reported malfunction caused a JetBlue A320 aircraft in the United States to nosedive in October.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) logged 93 affected flights—82 canceled and 11 delayed.
In a statement, Airbus said initial analysis of a recent A320-family incident found that intense solar radiation may corrupt data essential for flight-control systems, prompting the global corrective action.
The software update takes around two hours per aircraft, after which airlines must submit airworthiness compliance documents before flights can resume.
Globally, as many as 6,000 Airbus A320 Family aircraft may be affected. Carriers in the United States, Europe, and South America, including American Airlines, Air France, Avianca, and Air India, have also reported delays and cancellations as they work to complete the required updates.
