A major technical flaw has forced airlines across the world to ground thousands of Airbus aircraft after investigators discovered that bursts of intense solar radiation can corrupt a critical piece of flight-control software.
The revelation has triggered an urgent, worldwide aviation response — and exposed how vulnerable modern “fly-by-wire” aircraft can be when rare environmental forces collide with digital systems.
At the centre of the crisis is a defect in the software that calculates an aircraft’s elevation. Airbus found that at very high altitudes, sudden spikes of solar radiation could momentarily disrupt these calculations, causing the system to misread altitude data.
According to a BBC report, the issue only came to light after a frightening October incident in which a plane travelling between the United States and Mexico unexpectedly lost altitude. Airbus says this is the only known event linked to the vulnerability so far.
The scale of the problem is enormous: about 6,000 aircraft from the A320 family — nearly half of Airbus’s global fleet — are affected. This includes A318, A319, A320 and A321 models used by hundreds of airlines worldwide.
Aviation regulators are already warning passengers to expect turbulence on the ground. The UK Civil Aviation Authority has said some “disruption and cancellations” are unavoidable. Airbus itself acknowledged significant operational setbacks and publicly apologised.
Most aircraft — around 5,100 planes — will be back in the air soon after receiving a simple three-hour software patch. But 900 older jets face much longer downtime because they require full onboard computer replacements. These aircraft are restricted to empty “ferry flights” until their hardware is swapped.
Airlines have begun revealing how deeply they’ve been hit.
-
American Airlines confirmed 340 affected planes, predicting “some delays” but expecting most fixes by the weekend.
-
Delta Airlines said its disruptions would be “limited.”
-
In Australia, Jetstar cancelled 90 flights and expects weekend delays, even though most planes have already been patched.
Regulators have moved quickly. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has issued an emergency airworthiness directive, mandating the fix before any affected aircraft can carry passengers again.
Beyond the immediate disruption, the incident exposes a bigger question: as aviation becomes more computer-driven, what other risks hide in the intersection of technology and natural forces? The A320 family — one of the most popular aircraft lines in history — relies heavily on fly-by-wire systems, meaning pilots depend on computers to interpret every control input.
This event shows how even a rare blast of solar energy can ripple across the entire global fleet, grounding thousands of aircraft and shaking confidence in systems once considered nearly unbreakable.