Overview
- Airbus reported that the vast majority of roughly 6,000 A320-family jets flagged on Friday have been modified, with fewer than 100 aircraft still awaiting updates before returning to service.
- The remedy for most aircraft is a rollback to a prior ELAC software version loaded via a cockpit data loader in about two to three hours, while a subset of older jets will need hardware replacement.
- The FAA and EASA issued emergency directives requiring operators to complete the modification before carrying passengers following an Oct. 30 JetBlue incident under investigation.
- Airlines executed the work over the weekend with limited disruption, though JetBlue canceled about 20 flights on Monday and Avianca is pausing new bookings through December 8.
- Airbus shares fell as industry sources also reported a fuselage panel quality issue affecting several dozen production A320-family aircraft, leading to some delivery delays with no indication of in‑service impact.