Airbus on Friday ordered immediate repairs across thousands of its A320-family aircraft, affecting major carriers including American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
The order affects roughly 6,000 jets, making it one of the largest recalls in the European aerospace giant’s history. The directive also comes amid the busiest travel weekend of the year in the U.S., according to Reuters.
“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 said in a statement. “Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted.”
The recall was triggered by an Oct. 30 JetBlue flight traveling from Cancun to New Jersey that was forced to divert to Tampa after a sudden drop in altitude left several passengers injured, according to Reuters.
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The repair primarily involves reverting aircraft to an earlier software version, and the update must be completed before the planes are allowed to fly, Reuters reported.
American Airlines said about 340 of its 480 A320-family jets will require the update and expects the majority of the work to be completed by “today or tomorrow.”
The process takes roughly two hours per plane, according to the airline.
“Though we expect some delays as we accomplish these updates, we are intently focused on limiting cancellations — especially with customers returning home from holiday travel,” American said in a statement.
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Delta Air Lines said fewer than 50 A321neo aircraft in its fleet are affected and expects all updates to be completed by Saturday morning.
“As safety comes before everything else, Delta will fully comply with a directive and expects any resulting operational impact to be limited,” Delta said in a statement.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United Airlines are four of the world’s 10 largest operators of Airbus A320-family aircraft, according to Reuters.
United told FOX Business in an email that the recall does not affect its fleet.
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Other major carriers — including Lufthansa in Germany, IndiGo in India, and U.K.-based easyJet — said they would briefly take affected aircraft out of service to complete the repairs, Reuters reported.
The recall also prompted Colombian carrier Avianca to suspend ticket sales for travel through December 8, as more than 70% of its fleet is impacted, according to Reuters.
JetBlue did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu contributed to this report.
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