DGCA Grounds A320 Fleet; AI, IndiGo Announce Potential Delays

New Delhi: Several flights on Saturday got delayed after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued an airworthiness directive to Indian airlines asking operators to immediately carry out the software upgrade to address a potential issue related to Airbus aircraft flight controls.

As many as 338 planes belonging to the A320 family of aircraft operated by Indian airlines required the software upgrade, and modifications were carried out in 270 affected fleets. Out of these 338 planes, 200 belong to Indigo, 113 to Air India and 25 to Air India Express. The software upgrades on all the affected planes are to be completed by 5.29 am on November 30.

While there were no flight cancellations due to this software upgrade, there are delays in the range of 60-90 minutes for some flights as the software updates are being carried out for the affected planes.

Airbus, on Friday, issued an alert to operators globally saying intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft and that the software changes required to fix the issue would lead to operational disruptions. Airbus asked airline operators to install a serviceable elevator aileron computer (ELAC) in the impacted aircraft.

Airbus said an 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 has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in service which may be impacted," it said in a release.

Following the Airbus alert, the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) came out with an emergency airworthiness directive regarding the potential issue. The DGCA on Saturday also issued an airworthiness directive to airlines asking Indian operators to immediately carry out the requisite software upgrades.

The DGCA said an Airbus A320 aircraft recently experienced an uncommented and limited pitch-down event in which the autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude, and the rest of the flight was uneventful.

“A preliminary technical assessment done by Airbus identified a malfunction of the affected ELAC as a possible contributing factor. To address this potentially unsafe condition, Airbus issued the alert operators transmission (AOT) on November 28, providing instructions for software change/installing a serviceable ELAC as applicable. The DGCA and affected airlines immediately acted on this information and developed an action plan to complete the required task within the stipulated time frame…" the DGCA said.

"Based on the Airbus AOT and EASA Emergency AD, the DGCA has issued a mandatory modification to notify the Indian aircraft operators prescribing the mandatory actions required for the continued safe operation of the aircraft,” the DGCA said.

IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express operate A320 family planes, which include A320 ceos and neos and A321 ceos and neos. The affected aircraft need software upgrades or hardware realignment.

The software upgrades are being undertaken at the bases of the airlines in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Air India said that following EASA and Airbus directives for a mandatory software and hardware realignment on A320 family aircraft, its engineers have been working round-the-clock to complete the task at the earliest. It said there have been no cancellations due to this task, and there is no major impact on schedule integrity across its network. "However, some of our flights may be slightly delayed or rescheduled," it added.