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Airbus has warned that a “significant” number of its best-selling A320 family of aircraft need an immediate software update to fix potential problems caused by solar radiation, in a move likely to lead to flight disruptions around the world. 

About 6,000 aircraft, or about half of the global fleet in service, could be affected, according to people familiar with the situation. Although most of the aircraft can undergo an uncomplicated software update before their next flight, some 900 of the affected jets would require a hardware update that would take longer and require grounding, said the people.

Airbus said on Friday that analysis of a recent incident had revealed that “intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls”.

The European planemaker acknowledged that the move would “lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers”. 

The scale of the operation could significantly disrupt travel for millions of passengers scheduled to fly on A320 aircraft, the world’s most popular short-haul plane, operated by airlines including EasyJet, Lufthansa, Wizz Air, American Airlines and United Airlines. It comes ahead of one of the busiest travel weekends in the US following the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. 

American Airlines said about 340 of its fleet of 480 A320s needed the software replacement. The US airline said it expected the “vast majority” of updates to be completed “today and tomorrow”, adding that, for many planes, the software update would take “around two hours”. 

“Though we expect some delays as we accomplish these updates, we are intently focused on limiting cancellations — especially with customers returning home from holiday travel,” American added. 

Low-cost operator Wizz Air confirmed that some of its aircraft were among those that required a software update and warned that “some flights over the weekend may be affected”.

EasyJet, whose fleet is entirely made up of Airbus aircraft, said it expected the action to result in “some disruption”, and that it would do “all possible to minimise the impact” for its customers.

The airline added later that: “We plan to operate our flying programme normally on Saturday and ask that customers travelling continue to monitor their flights on flight tracker.”

Lufthansa also warned of a “small number of flight cancellations or delays over the weekend”. The German airline group said it had already scheduled the necessary maintenance to ensure “full compliance with the identified mitigation”.

Delta Air Lines said fewer than 50 of its aircraft would be affected by the incident and the work was scheduled to be completed by Saturday morning. 

Colombian airline Avianca, which operates more than 130 aircraft, said more than 70 per cent of its fleet had been affected. The carrier has closed ticket sales for travel through December 8. 

In Asia, Japan’s ANA said a large number of flight had experienced delays and cancellations on Saturday, and said there was potential for further disruption on Sunday and beyond.

The decision by Airbus follows an incident on October 30 that involved a JetBlue aircraft flying from Cancún in Mexico to Newark, New Jersey. The plane suffered a computer glitch that resulted in a sudden drop in altitude and forced the crew to make an emergency landing in Florida.

Airbus said in its statement that it had requested a so-called “Alert Operators Transmission” to implement the fixes. In an emergency airworthiness directive issued on Friday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said the measures “may cause short-term disruption to flight schedules and therefore inconvenience to passengers”.

The regulator’s directive requires airlines to implement the fix before the next flight. The US Federal Aviation Administration is expected to issue its own version later on Friday.

Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority also said on Friday that the action was likely to lead to “some disruption and cancellations to flights”.

Heidi Alexander, the UK transport secretary, said: “Passengers who are due to fly this weekend should check with their carriers for the latest information. 

“It seems the impact on UK airlines seems limited with a smaller number of aircraft requiring more complex software and hardware changes.”

Additional reporting by Jim Pickard

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