Airbus system upgrade affects over 70 Philippines domestic flights

MANILA, Philippines — More than 70 domestic flights were either canceled or delayed yesterday as local carriers grounded their Airbus A-320 and A-321 aircraft to give way to a software upgrade required by a European air safety agency.

Domestic carriers Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines had to temporarily stop as many as 78 flights to submit their Airbus fleet to a software upgrade – according to acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez – in compliance with a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) airworthiness directive to the aircraft company based in Toulouse, France, to demand A320 operators correct a crucial component in the jet.

A recent analysis on A320 aircraft showed that the sun’s radiation may corrupt data critical to operating flight controls. In response, Airbus put out an alert to airlines to conduct a software upgrade for their safety compliance.

In the Philippines, the A320 and A321 are the most popular single-aisle aircraft used by carriers to fly short-range destinations.

Cebu Pacific manages 66 of these jets in its fleet, while PAL is running with 45, although not all of these aircraft have to be corrected.

As of yesterday morning, Cebu Pacific was still updating the software of 22 aircraft, as PAL was waiting on 11 more, causing cancellations for domestic flights.

AirAsia Philippines was able to complete the software upgrade immediately, but still had to delay at least 11 flights affecting more than 1,000 passengers.

Air Carriers Association of the Philippines executive director Jose Enrique Perez de Tagle said it takes up to two hours to finish the software update for every aircraft. This means all in all, delays have to be expected up to today.

Tagle said airlines are taking every measure possible to minimize schedule changes. Lopez asked passengers for understanding, underscoring that the software upgrade is crucial for flight safety.

The carriers have committed to extend free rebooking and special waivers to passengers affected by the flights cancellations and delays.

The Department of Transportation also did welfare checks on passengers stranded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, ordering airlines to provide them free food and drinks.

“This is a global occurrence; affected were 6,000 aircraft. Here, locally, among Cebu Pacific, PAL and AirAsia, there were 75 aircraft affected. We talked with airlines, with the  CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) and the Civil Aeronautics Board, and we agreed to undertake software upgrade,” Lopez said at a briefing.

Safety is paramount

He said Airbus’ software update advisory was sent to Philippine aviation authorities at 1 a.m. yesterday.

“We see it best to take precautionary measure because for the Department of Transportation, passenger safety is paramount,” he said in Filipino. “But we’d like to extend our apologies for canceled flights.”

Airbus instructed its clients on Friday to take “immediate precautionary action” after evaluating a technical malfunction on board a JetBlue flight in October.

“Intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls,” it said, adding that “a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in service” may be affected.

Replacing the software will take “a few hours” on most planes but for some 1,000 aircraft, the process “will take weeks,” AFP said, quoting a source.

“Customers affected by cancellations are being notified individually by SMS and email,” an Airbus spokesperson said on Friday.

In a statement, EASA said Airbus had informed it about the issue. “These measures may cause short-term disruption to flight schedules and therefore inconvenience to passengers,” EASA said, adding that “safety is paramount.”

Aerospace and defense giant Thales said it makes the flight control computer, which it said was “fully compliant with the technical specifications issued by Airbus” and certified by the EASA and its US equivalent, the FAA.

But it added: “The functionality in question is supported by software that is not under Thales’ responsibility.”

The Airbus statement did not specify which company had designed the software.

“Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” it said, apologizing for the inconvenience.

On Oct. 30, a JetBlue-operated A320 aircraft encountered an in-flight control issue due to a computer malfunction.

The plane suddenly nosedived as it traveled between Cancun in Mexico and Newark in the United States, and pilots had to land in Tampa, Florida.

Some passengers were injured in the incident, US media quoted local firefighters as saying.

JetBlue did not comment on the incident but said it had already begun necessary changes on some A320 and A321 models.

Its competitor, American Airlines, said it had already begun updating software following Friday’s alert and expected “the vast majority” of approximately 340 affected aircraft to be serviced the following day. “Several delays” would occur as a result, it added.

After initially saying it had not been affected, its competitor United Airlines said it had identified six affected aircraft and said it expected minor disruptions on a few flights.

Delta Air Lines said it expected to have made the necessary updates by morning today.

Air India also warned yesterday of delays, while an Avianca statement warned of “significant disruptions over the next 10 days.” — Rudy Santos