DGCA directs grounding of Airbus jets pending software fix

India’s aviation regulator on Saturday asked airlines not to fly A320-family aircraft pending mandatory modifications and software fixes, after aeroplane maker Airbus warned that solar radiation could corrupt flight-control data on many in-service jets.

The directive covers 338 jets, 80% (270 aircraft) of which have already received the software upgrade by Saturday evening, said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

InterGlobe Aviation-owned IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share and Airbus’ biggest customer in the country, has completed the software upgrade on 184 of its 200 affected jets, according to the DGCA. A total of 363 aeroplanes of IndiGo's 417 aircraft belong to the A320 family.

While Tata group-owned Air India has completed upgrades on 69 of its 113 impacted aircraft, its subsidiary, Air India Express, has fixed 17 of its 25 affected jets. Air India has 133 Airbus jets in a 187-aircraft fleet, and Air India Express operates 31 A320-family aircraft in a fleet of 110.

Akasa Air and SpiceJet do not have any Airbus or A320s in their fleet.

Air India Express reported four cancellations, while Air India and IndiGo had none, the regulator said.

The software upgrade across all impacted aircraft is expected to be completed by Sunday.

The DGCA directive

On Saturday morning, the regulator issued a mandatory safety directive for Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 aircraft, requiring airlines to immediately fix the ELAC (Elevator Aileron Computer) flight-control system, which transmits side-stick commands to the rear elevators.

“This is to be ensured that no person shall operate the product which falls under the applicability of this mandatory modification except those which are in accordance with the compliance to requirement of mandatory modification (s)/applicable Airworthiness Directive(s),” the DGCA said in its order.

The software upgrade issue emerged after Airbus said Friday that intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to flight controls, affecting “a significant number” of in-service A320-family aircraft, its most widely used variant.

It also said that it has collaborated with aviation authorities to request immediate precautionary action from operators via an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT), in order to implement available software and/or hardware protection and ensure the fleet is safe to fly. This AOT will be reflected in an Emergency Airworthiness Directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

“Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” it said.

The EASA said that Airbus has requested airline operators to install a serviceable ELAC in the affected aircraft.

The European safety agency has directed that the issue be addressed before the next flight operated by the impacted aircraft, by replacing or modifying the affected software or hardware.

“IndiGo is undertaking all required inspections and updates to its A320 family aircraft in full accordance with directives issued by the EASA and Airbus…We would also like to confirm that no flights have been cancelled as a result of these checks,” said an IndiGo spokesperson.