New Delhi: IndiGo has completed the mandatory Airbus system software enhancement on its entire fleet of 200 A320-family aircraft, making all of them compliant with the configuration ordered after a global safety directive. The airline said its engineering and operations teams coordinated the upgrades aircraft by aircraft, allowing it to finish the programme with no flight cancellations and only minimal disruption to passengers.
With the work completed, IndiGo said every A320-family aircraft in its fleet is now operating with the latest approved software and that performance will continue to be tracked as part of routine safety checks. The directive followed an order by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for a global software upgrade on Airbus A320-family jets after a vulnerability was identified in certain Elevator and Aileron Computer (ELAC) units.
Air India said it has successfully carried out the required reset on more than 90 per cent of its operating A320-family aircraft affected by the EASA–Airbus requirement for software realignment. The airline expects to cover its entire A320-family fleet within the prescribed EASA timeline and credited its engineering and ground teams with working round the clock to ensure there were no cancellations and only limited impact on schedules.
India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), earlier said 338 flights in the country had been affected by the issue linked to ELAC units, part of the aircraft’s flight-control system. EASA identified “ELAC B L104” modules as the source of the vulnerability, prompting the worldwide software directive that has impacted nearly 6,000 flights.
The DGCA said it is closely monitoring airline compliance and operational impacts to keep disruptions at airports to a minimum as the last pending aircraft are brought up to the updated standard. Airlines have reassured passengers that safety remains their top priority and advised them to check flight status for any residual delays while the final upgrades and resets are completed.
(Inputs from IANS)