Jetstar flights across the country are facing disruptions, with delays and cancellations following a significant recall of Airbus planes that has impacted flights worldwide.
Passengers at major airports, including Sydney, are experiencing long queues as Jetstar grapples with issues stemming from aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
Airbus has announced that a substantial number of its popular A320 aircraft are affected, leading to what industry insiders estimate could disrupt about half of the global fleet.
Jetstar communicated to 9News that, while a few flights managed to take off earlier today, passengers should brace for more cancellations.
The airline stated online, “Due to a software issue affecting Airbus A320 and A321 operators globally, some of our Airbus-operated flights are unable to depart today.”
Jetstar emphasized, “Safety is our number one priority. In response to a precautionary action from Airbus, we have had to cancel some flights.”
“If you are booked to travel today and your flight is delayed or cancelled as a result of this issue, we’ll contact you directly via SMS and email to advise of your options including a refund to your original form of payment.
Departure screens at Sydney show multiple cancellations this morning.
However flights leaving this afternoon are so far showing up as on time. at both Sydney and Melbourne.
Passengers should check online before heading to the airport.
Air New Zealand services are also affected.
Airbus says it’s related to a “solar radiation” issue on a plane.
“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 said in a statement.
“Airbus has put out a directive that the aircraft, the A320 aircraft, of which there are more than 10,000 around the world, have to have a software update to correct for an error in data when there’s intense solar radiation,” pilot and aviation expert Richard de Crespigny said.
“So it’s not suggesting that there’s something wrong with the actual flight controls themselves.”
“The problem is that you have to update all the aircraft in your fleet.”
“If you’ve only got a couple of engineers that have turned up for work, you’d need them to pull in many more.”
“You’ve got to wait for the aircraft to land.”
“Maybe the aircraft has been in a hangar overnight. It’s just a problem of scheduling all the aircraft to be updated quickly, that’s all.”
