Pakistan International Airlines was unaffected even as global airlines scrambled Saturday to fix a software problem on their Airbus A320 planes after a recall by the European plane maker temporarily grounded planes in Asia and Europe and threatened travel in the United States during the busiest weekend of the year.
The recall of 6,000 aircraft, covering more than half of Airbus’ A320 family global fleet, is among the largest in its 55-year history and is a blow to the planemaker weeks after the A320 overtook the Boeing 737 as the most delivered model.
“PIA has confirmed that its entire A320 fleet is not affected by this Airbus alert. PIA’s Engineering and Maintenance department is closely monitoring the airworthiness of its fleet, ensuring safe operations,” said a statement from the airline’s spokesperson issued today.
Meanwhile, airlines worked through the night to make fixes after Airbus issued the emergency recall to 350 operators worldwide, and global regulators ordered airlines to remedy the software issue before resuming flights.
That appeared to help avoid the worst-case scenario and limited the number of flight delays in Asia and Europe early Saturday. The United States will face high travel demand later the day after the Thanksgiving holiday period.
“It’s not as chaotic as some people might think,” said Brendan Sobie, an independent aviation analyst based in Asia, adding that airlines were always prepared for various potential disruptions. “But it does create some short-term headaches for operations.”
Airbus is also now telling airlines that emergency repairs to some of the affected A320 planes may be less burdensome than initially thought, industry sources said, and fewer than feared are likely to require hardware changes rather than software repairs.
Still, industry executives said the abrupt action was a rare and potentially costly headache at a time when maintenance is under pressure around the world due to labor and parts shortages.
The solution is simple but necessary.
Globally, there are around 11,300 single-aisle aircraft in service, including 6,440 of the flagship A320 model. The fix mainly involves reverting to the previous software and, although relatively simple, must be completed before the planes can fly again.
European budget airline Wizz Air said early on Saturday that software updates had been rolled out overnight to all of its affected A320 family planes and that no further disruption was expected.
Flight tracking data from Cirium and FlightAware showed that most global airports are operating with good to moderate levels of delays.
AirAsia, one of the world’s largest A320 customers, said it aimed to complete repairs within 48 hours, with engineering teams “working around the clock”.
India’s aviation regulator said 338 Airbus planes in the country were affected, but the software reset would be completed by Sunday.
The country’s largest airline, IndiGo, said it had completed restarts on 160 of 200 planes, while Air India said it had had 42 of its 113 planes impacted. Both airlines warned of delays.
Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration ordered airlines to carry out inspections and maintenance. It is estimated that around two-thirds of the 67 A320 and A321 aircraft operated by the island’s airlines are affected.
The Macau Civil Aviation Authority said it had asked Air Macau to address the issue, including rescheduling flights to minimize any disruption to passengers.
ANA Holdings, Japan’s largest airline, canceled 95 flights on Saturday, affecting 13,500 travelers.
ANA and its subsidiaries, such as Peach Aviation, operate the majority of Airbus A320 aircraft in Japan. Its main rival, Japan Airlines, has a mostly Boeing fleet and does not fly the A320.
October incident prompted recall, sources say
Industry sources said a sharp loss of altitude on a JetBlue flight on Oct. 30 from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, which injured several passengers, had triggered the Airbus recall.
Jetstar, the low-cost carrier of Australia’s flag carrier Qantas, said some of its flights would be affected.
South Korea’s Asiana Airlines said it does not expect significant disruptions to its flight schedule. Domestic rival Korean Air said it was working to get 10 of its planes back into service.
South Korea’s Transport Ministry said upgrades to 42 aircraft were expected to be completed by Sunday morning.
Hong Kong budget airline HK Express said it had upgraded more than half of its affected planes and flight operations were normal.
The world’s largest A320 operator, American Airlines, said 209 of its 480 A320 planes needed the repair, revised down from a previous estimate, and that it expected to complete most of it by Saturday.
Other US airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United Airlines, are also among the world’s 10 largest A320 family operators.
Germany’s Lufthansa and Britain’s easyJet were among other airlines that said they would make repairs.
Middle Eastern low-cost carrier Air Arabia said it would implement “necessary measures” on all impacted planes.
Colombian airline Avianca said the recall affected more than 70 percent of its fleet, prompting it to close ticket sales for travel dates through December 8.
