Indian aviation authorities and major airlines executed an emergency software downgrade operation over the weekend after Airbus identified a critical safety concern linked to solar flare activity. The urgent directive required rolling back flight control computer software on specific A320 aircraft to prevent potential control issues during intense solar radiation events.
Emergency Response Activated
The crisis began late Friday when Airbus issued an urgent directive asking operators to revert flight control computers to a 2022 software version. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and US regulators quickly issued emergency orders following the identification of the safety risk.
Indian carriers received their first alert around 9:30 PM on Friday, triggering immediate action across the industry. An official involved in the response revealed that initially the situation appeared much more severe, potentially requiring massive groundings and significant operational impact.
Airlines Spring Into Action
Working under DGCA supervision, three major Indian carriers - IndiGo, Air India, and Air India Express - immediately began the software rollback process on 338 identified aircraft. The coordinated effort allowed airlines to implement fixes without grounding entire fleets, thus avoiding mass cancellations during peak holiday travel season.
IndiGo, the world's largest A320 operator, reported completing updates on 184 of its 200 affected jets by Saturday evening. The airline announced before midnight that it had fully completed the task, having experienced minimal delays and zero cancellations due to the software issue.
Air India teams worked round-the-clock to address 113 affected aircraft, completing 69 by Saturday evening. The airline anticipated full compliance within EASA's timelines and reported no cancellations directly linked to the software downgrade, though some flights experienced minor delays.
Air India Express tackled 25 affected aircraft, completing 17 by Saturday evening. The airline credited coordinated work across engineering, operations, and safety teams for their progress, noting that most of its A320 fleet was already compliant.
Root Cause and Global Impact
The emergency directive followed an October 30 incident involving a JetBlue A320 flying from Cancun to Newark. The aircraft allegedly pitched nose-down without pilot input, forcing diversion to Tampa where 15-20 passengers injured during the uncontrolled descent required hospitalization.
Investigators linked the issue to an upgrade known as L104 for the elevator and aileron computer (ELAC). Airbus analysis revealed that intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to flight controls on certain software-hardware combinations, prompting the global rollback directive.
Initially, the scale of the alert appeared to affect thousands of aircraft worldwide before being narrowed to a smaller subset. Global carriers also experienced cancellations and delays as they addressed the software concern.
The software downgrade process took approximately 40-50 minutes per aircraft for newer models, while older jets required additional hardware changes. By 5:30 PM Saturday, only four Air India Express flights had been cancelled, with carriers preparing for delays of up to 90 minutes.
By Saturday evening, Indian airlines had successfully addressed 278 aircraft, representing 82% of the 338 aircraft flagged globally in Indian fleets. The rapid response demonstrated the aviation industry's ability to coordinate urgent safety measures while minimizing passenger disruption during critical travel periods.
