Airbus planes back in the air after software update

Thousands of Airbus jets are returning to the skies after receiving a software update to address solar radiation.

“Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls. Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted,” the European aviation company said Friday. 

The A320 Family includes Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 jets, and the software update also applies to some A321neo jets.

By Saturday, the software updates were getting online, allowing many of the 6,000 affected planes worldwide to resume operation.

About 545 planes operating in the U.S. were affected, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA and European authorities ordered the software update to happen before Sunday.

American Airlines said 209 of its planes needed the update and that it would be finished Saturday, according to The Associated Press.

United Airlines said six planes in its fleet were affected, and Delta Air Lines said fewer than 50 of its A321neo planes needed the update, reported AP. Hawaiian Airlines was unaffected.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot told his country’s BFM TV that “an update has already been carried out on more than 5,000 aircraft,” and that “it would appear that fewer than 100 aircraft” still needed the update.

The remainder of the planes, roughly 900, needed replacement computers, according to the BBC.

Airbus investigated the issue after Oct. 30, when JetBlue Flight 1230 flew from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark Liberty International Airport. The jet first dropped from 35,000 feet up to 10,000 feet up after solar radiation corrupted onboard computers and caused the A320 plane to lose positioning data, according to the New York Post.

At one point, the flight lost 100 feet of altitude in seven seconds. The incident caused injuries to at least 15 passengers, including children, who went to the hospital following an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, according to CNN.

JetBlue told USA Today that it was also “working closely with the FAA, Airbus and our business partners to quickly address an issue identified with flight control software on certain A320 and A321 aircraft operated by carriers worldwide. We’ve already started work on the affected aircraft.”