Jetstar grounds Airbus A320 fleet over urgent software fears from manufacturer
More than half of Jetstar’s Airbus A320 fleet is ready for service after the airline cancelled almost 100 flights due to solar radiation corrupting aircraft software systems.
In much needed relief for passengers stranded in Queensland airports, Jetstar has confirmed much of its Airbus A320 fleet is ready for service, after a glitch in their operating system forced 100 flights to be cancelled across Australia.
Jetstar’s aerospace manufacturer Airbus reported their A320 planes may be affected by solar radiation, sparking urgent software updates.
This radiation had the chance of corrupting data that would impact flight controls while planes were in the air.
Jetstar has confirmed 20 of the airline’s 34 A320 were ready to resume service, after disruptions across Queensland’s metro and regional airports.
A Jetstar spokesperson said the teams were progressively working on the issue with another 14 aircraft to be ready overnight.
“Our teams are progressively resolving the Airbus A320/1 fleet software issue which is affecting operators globally,” they said.
“As of 3:30pm, 20 of the 34 affected aircraft are ready to return to service.
“We’re expecting the remaining to be ready overnight, allowing flights to resume as planned on Sunday 30 November.
“However, there may be some flow on delays or cancellations on Sunday as the network fully recovers.
“We will contact customers by SMS and email if there are any further disruptions.”
Earlier a press conference in Melbourne, Jetstar Chief Pilot Tyrone Simes said each update would take around two to three hours to complete.
“It’s to do with the architecture in the software systems and it’s a particular combination of software updates that have triggered this,” Mr Simes said.
“So not all, not all aircraft are affected.
“We’re hoping to get it all done today and expecting the potential for some minor disruption tomorrow.”
Issues came to light after a JetBlue flight from Mexico to the US experienced a sudden drop in altitude during a solar storm – leading to further investigation.
On Saturday morning, Brisbane Airport felt three cancelled flights. They were planned to arrive at Townsville, Hobart and Melbourne.
At the Gold Coast Airport, six arrivals and seven departure flights have been cancelled, coupled with many more flight delays.
Meanwhile, the Townsville Airport had felt the cancellation of two arrivals and two departures.
Sunshine Coast Airport experienced merely one cancelled flight.
Virgin said it does “not anticipate any impact to either Virgin Australia or our Regional Airline operations.”
Qantas confirmed that no planes have been affected
Those with affected Jetstar flights will be contacted by the company via SMS texts and email.
Other airline operators such as Wizz Air, Air New Zealand, and easyJet have also been impacted.
A spokesperson for Queensland Airports – the company in charge of regional bases such as Gold Coast, Townsville and Mt Isa – said they felt the impact themselves.
“Due to a global Airbus fleet software issue that’s affecting A320 & A321 operators globally, a number of flights to and from Gold Coast and Townsville airports have been impacted,” they said.
“Passengers are encouraged to monitor the status of their flight; affected customers are being informed by their airline.”
