GLITCH HALTS A320 FLEET

India races to install software patch for 338 A320 aircraft after Airbus flags solar-radiation flight-control risk. By Saturday morning, more than half the fleet—189 planes—had already been patched.

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India’s civil aviation network went into an intense 48-hour safety scramble after Airbus issued a global alert warning that extreme solar radiation could corrupt flight-control data on A320-family aircraft—India’s most widely used commercial jets.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) responded with an immediate airworthiness directive, ordering airlines to install a mandatory software patch before affected aircraft could return to service. As many as 338 A320-family aircraft operated by IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express required the update.

By Saturday morning, more than half the fleet—189 planes—had already been patched, with the remainder queued for checks ahead of the strict 5:29 am, November 30, compliance deadline. Despite the scale of the exercise, the country avoided mass cancellations. IndiGo, which operates India’s largest A320 fleet, confirmed no cancellations and only short delays, most within 30-90 minutes, as aircraft were cycled through maintenance bays during ground halts.