Daily London
Jetstar flights are set to be delayed nationwide after a major Airbus plane recall, which is poised to affect flights worldwide.
Airbus says a significant number of its best-selling A320 planes are being pulled in a move that industry sources say would disrupt half the global fleet.
Jetstar has told 9News that while they were able to get a few flights off the tarmac this morning, some planes are being grounded, which is set to affect flights today.
Air New Zealand services are also set to be affected.
Jetstar is unsure how long the delays will last, but will provide an update today.
“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.
The recall has affected flights globally.
“Airbus has put out a directive that the aircraft, the A320 aircraft, of which there are more than 10,000 around the world, have to have a software update to correct for an error in data when there’s intense solar radiation,” pilot and aviation expert Richard de Crespigny said.
“So it’s not suggesting that there’s something wrong with the actual flight controls themselves.”
“The problem is that you have to update all the aircraft in your fleet.”
“If you’ve only got a couple of engineers that have turned up for work, you’d need them to pull in many more.”
“You’ve got to wait for the aircraft to land.”
“Maybe the aircraft has been in a hangar overnight. It’s just a problem of scheduling all the aircraft to be updated quickly, that’s all.”
