Airport chaos, cancellations as passengers hit by A320 jet recall
Sydney airport’s domestic terminal has been thrown into chaos after a global recall of some Airbus planes grounded flights and caused major disruption.
Australian airports have been thrown into chaos after a global recall of some Airbus planes grounded flights and caused major disruption.
Airbus said that a “recent event” involving an A320 aircraft revealed that “intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls”.
A “significant number” of A320 aircraft may be impacted, the aerospace firm said, adding that it had taken “precautionary” action.
Jetstar has canceled and delayed a large number of flights as a precautionary measure due to the problem, confirming that a software issue was affecting Airbus A320 and A321 operators globally.
Loic Bernier, 59, had his flight home to Vanuatu with Jetstar canceled.
“My flight was canceled this morning at the last minute. I’m now waiting for my luggage and then I’m going to go to the hotel to wait for news because we don’t know what’s going to happen. [There’s been] no info about the next flight. Hopefully by tomorrow we’ll see if there is another flight.
“It looks like there’s a lot of people who’ve gone back already home waiting for news.”
Marcelo Suarez’s, 53, flight back to his home on the Gold Coast with Jetstar was also cancelled.
“I just rebooked myself on another flight just to get home.
Suarez described the airport as “chaos”.
“It’s busy and I’m guessing it’s gonna get busier,” he said.
In total at least 20 flights have been cancelled across Australian airports while more than 1,000 flights have been delayed.
The software issue has triggered one of the biggest aircraft recalls in Airbus history, impacting flights globally.
Reuters, citing unnamed industry sources, said the incident was triggered by a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, US, on October 30. Several passengers were reportedly injured during the flight after the plane quickly lost altitude.
The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Tampa, Florida, forcing an FAA investigation.
Samantha Fisk, 57, had her flight to Melbourne with Jetstar delayed. Asked about the airport Fisk said: “Oh, it’s crazy… I’ve only been here about 20 minutes. Fingers crossed I can get to Melbourne.”
Marcela Turner, 24, said she had just arrived at the airport and discovered that her flight was cancelled.
“So now we’re in line, not knowing what to do. They told us at the service desk area to come here (to the big queue). So it’s kind of confusing”.
“On the website it said that we could get another flight, but it would be two stops (to get to Melbourne from Sydney).”
Paulina Turner, 24, was at the airport with her family from Monterrey, Mexico for a holiday in Australia.
She said her family’s flight to Melbourne had been cancelled.
“We don’t even know what’s going on.”
Originally published as Airport chaos, cancellations as passengers hit by A320 jet recall
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