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British Airways, easyJet and Wizz Air rely on the A320 family for their European flights
Simon CalderTravel Correspondent Friday 28 November 2025 18:49 GMTComments
Ground stop? Airbus A320 aircraft taxiing (Airbus)
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Millions of airline passengers booked to fly on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft could find their flights cancelled while urgent modifications are made.
Wizz Air UK has already warned “some flights over the weekend may be affected”.
Airbus issued a dramatic announcement on Friday evening saying: “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.” A total of 6,500 of the twin-jets are believed to be affected.
The statement from the European planemaker added: "Airbus has worked proactively with the aviation authorities to request immediate precautionary action from operators via an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) in order to implement the 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.”
The “fly by wire” concept used by Airbus requires a wide variety of data to be fed to the flight control system. The fear is that solar radiation acting on sensors and connectors could affect the normally predictable behaviour of electrons, corrupting data – which may in turn cause the aircraft system and pilots to respond inappropriately.
Reuters is reporting that for two-thirds of the affected jets, the recall will result in a relatively brief grounding as airlines revert to a previous software version. But for around 2,000 aircraft, hardware modifications are needed – which could cause planes to be grounded for weeks.
The Airbus A320 family, which includes the A319 and A321, is now the world’s most popular shorthaul plane. It overtook the Boeing 737 in terms of deliveries last month.
According to Cirium data, the A320 family operated 1,414,516 flights in September alone – roughly 2,000 take-offs and landings every hour. Around 8 million seats depart each day on the series of aircraft.
The easyJet fleet of more than 350 aircraft is entirely composed of A319s, A320s and A321s.
British Airways’ mainline Heathrow shorthaul and Gatwick Euroflyer operations are flown entirely by Airbus A320 family aircraft.
Wizz Air has over 200 Airbus A320s and A321s, though some are currently grounded due to separate problems with their Pratt & Whitney engines.
A spokesperson for the airline said: “Wizz Air confirms that some of its aircraft are among the more than 6,500 Airbus A320 family aircraft worldwide that require a software update, as recently identified by the aircraft manufacturer.
“Wizz Air has already immediately scheduled the necessary maintenance to ensure full compliance with the identified mitigation.
“As a result, some flights over the weekend may be affected. Passengers who booked directly with Wizz Air via the website or mobile app will be notified of any schedule changes.
“The safety of our customers, crew, and aircraft is always our number one and overriding priority. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by circumstances outside of our direct control.”
The Independent has asked British Airways and easyJet for a response.
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