PIA A-320 fleet safe from global software glitch: Airline spokesman

Karachi: The national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), through its spokesman, has assured the public that the airline faces no risk involving a recent software issue related to its A-320 planes.

The PIA spokesman stated that the airline’s A-320 fleet utilizes an older version of the software, which is not affected by the problem and poses no risk to airline operations.

Airbus had recently released a new software update, sometimes referred to as a “patch,” which later developed a fault. The manufacturer subsequently directed airlines to uninstall the faulty software and revert to the older, stable version.

As PIA’s A-320 fleet already had this older version installed, the airline has not encountered any issues, and all its planes are safe for operation.

Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it was ordering an immediate software change on a significant number of its best-selling A320 family of jets in a move that industry sources said would involve some 6,000 jets, or over half the global fleet.

Airbus said in a statement a recent incident involving an A320-family aircraft had revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.

“Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” the company said.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency will issue an emergency airworthiness directive, Airbus said.

For about two-thirds of the affected jets, the recall will result in a relatively brief grounding as airlines revert to a previous software version, industry sources said.

But the scale of the operation is expected to cause significant disruption, emerging just ahead of the busiest travel weekend of the year in the United States.

Hundreds of jets may also have to have hardware changed, leading to weeks out of service.

The incident that triggered the sweeping repair action involved a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on October 30, industry sources said.

Flight 1230 made an emergency landing at Tampa, Florida, and several people were taken to hospital after a flight control problem and a sudden uncommanded drop in altitude.

According to Airbus data, there are around 11,300 A320-family aircraft in operation, including 6,440 of the core A320 model.

Moreover, another Reuters story says, Airlines affected by a sweeping recall of Airbus (AIR.PA), A320 jets to fix a software glitch must carry out the work before the next flight, excluding any re-positioning flight to a repair base, an Airbus bulletin to airlines showed on Friday.

The document, seen by Reuters, traced the issue to a computer known as ELAC (Elevator and Aileron Computer), which sends commands to elevators that control the plane’s pitch or nose angle.

Its manufacturer, France’s Thales said in response to a Reuters query that the functionality in question is supported by software that is not under Thales’ responsibility.