Flight disruption warning as Airbus requests modifications to 6,000 planes

Summary

European aerospace giant Airbus has warned flights will be disrupted after it requested immediate modifications to thousands of its planes
The move comes after the discovery that intense radiation from the Sun could corrupt data crucial to flight controls
About 6,000 planes are thought to be affected, which makes up about half of Airbus's global fleet, but it is understood most will be able to undergo a simple software update
The UK's aviation regulator has said carrying out the updates would likely cause "some disruption and cancellations to flights"
American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Air India, Wizz Air and Air New Zealand have all warned of disruption to flights

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Watch: This is "a very rare event", says UK's Civil Aviation Authority

Live Reporting

Edited by Laurence Peter and Helen Sullivan, with business correspondent Theo Leggett reporting

Air New Zealand warns of disruption across number of flights todaypublished at 20:51 GMT 28 November 2025

Air New Zealand says it's currently affected by a "global software issue impacting Airbus A320neo aircraft", it says in a post on social media platform X., external
"As a precaution, all our A320neo aircrafts will be receiving a software update before operating their next passenger service," the airline says.
The statement continues by saying "this will lead to disruption across a number of our A320neo flights today and we’re expecting a number of cancellations to services across that fleet".
"If you’re travelling today, we will be contacting customers directly if your flight is affected," the airline adds.
There may be impact to some flights, CAA warnspublished at 20:45 GMT 28 November 2025

Tim Johnson from the UK's Civil Aviation Authority tells the BBC that there may be disruptions to flights "in some circumstances".
"From a UK perspective, not all airlines fly Airbus A320 or the affected ones, so for some airlines there will be no impact at all," he says.
"For some, there may be some impact," he continues, adding that the CAA has been in touch with airlines and they're looking to make sure the maintenance is undertaken over the coming days.
He says the advice to customers is to "check airline websites and apps for the latest info about what is happening".

How did Airbus find the problem?published at 20:43 GMT 28 November 2025
Theo Leggett
Business correspondent

The issue was discovered after a JetBlue aircraft en-route from Mexico to the United States in October experienced a ‘sudden drop in altitude’.
The plane made an emergency landing, with reports at the time suggesting 15 to 20 people suffered minor injuries.
It’s thought the incident was caused by intense solar radiation, which corrupted data in a computer used to help control the aircraft.
Now action is being taken to prevent further problems. About 6,000 aircraft worldwide are thought to be affected, all of them of the A320 family, which also includes the A319 and A321 models.
According to Airbus, the majority can be fixed with a relatively simple software update. However, some 900 older planes will need replacement computers, and will have to be taken out of service until they can be fixed.
Warning of disruption as thousand of Airbus planes require software updatepublished at 20:26 GMT 28 November 2025
Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter

Airbus says that flights will be disrupted after it requested immediate modifications to thousands of its planes.
The plane manufacturer says it has found that intense radiation from the Sun could corrupt data crucial to flight controls.
About 6,000 planes are thought to be affected, which is around half of the company’s global fleet.
It’s thought most will be able to undergo a simple software update.
We’ll be bringing you live coverage as well as information on any potential disruption, stay with us.