Overview
- EASA’s Emergency Airworthiness Directive AD 2025-0268-E requires immediate review and update or reversion of A319/A320/A321 flight‑control software, allowing only non‑passenger ferry flights until aircraft are fixed.
- The FAA issued an emergency directive effective immediately that compels operators to replace or modify the affected software before further passenger operations, setting a near‑term deadline this weekend.
- Mexican carriers Volaris and VivaAerobús began applying the fixes, warning of 48–72 hours of cancellations and delays as AFAC conducts technical verifications before aircraft return to service.
- Global disruption continues as airlines report cancellations and delays, including Air France canceling 35 flights, ANA scrubbing about 60, American Airlines addressing hundreds of aircraft, and Avianca saying over 70% of its fleet is affected with ticket sales paused until December 8.
- Industry reporting places the scope at roughly 6,000 A320‑family aircraft, with most returning to service after software work that takes a few hours and a subset likely needing hardware replacement that could extend groundings.