A320s grounded over software fix

GLITCH LED TO JETBLUE PLANE LOSING HEIGHT

- NITIN KUMAR

AVIATION REGULATOR Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday ordered airlines to ground all aircraft in the A320 family till they complete mandatory modifications and software fixes, following an Airbus warning that solar radiation could corrupt flight-control data on certain in-service jets.

DGCA said IndiGo and Air India did not cancel any flights, while Air India Express cancelled four flights due to the system modification process. Flight delays have been 60-90 minutes at various airports, sources said.

The software upgrades have been completed for 270 A320 family planes of the total 338 aircraft, as per data as of 5.30 pm. A total of 200 IndiGo planes have been affected, and software upgrades have been completed for 184 of them, while in the case of Air India, 113 aircraft have been impacted and upgrades have been done for 69 of them, DGCA data showed.