Nearly all of Airbus’s thousands of A320 family of jets that were suddenly recalled have now been fixed, the planemaker said on Monday.
Out of the 6,000 planes potentially affected around the world, Airbus said the “vast majority” have now had the necessary modifications to make them airworthy once again. “We are working with our airline customers to support the modification of less than 100 remaining aircraft to ensure they can be returned to service,” Airbus said on December 1.
The French aircraft manufacturer issued a recall of its A320 family of jets on November 28 after discovering that intense solar radiation could possibly “corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.”
Airbus quickly issued a software fix, but airlines around the globe were still forced to ground their fleets of A320 variants in order to deploy the modification.
The planemaker rushed to issue the recall at the end of the busy Thanksgiving travel window following an investigation of an incident aboard a JetBlue flight in late October. The A320 in that incident experienced a sudden loss of altitude mid-flight on its way from Cancun to New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, and 15 people were reportedly taken to the hospital.
Several U.S. airlines’ fleets were impacted by the recall. American Airlines had to ground 209 A320 variant jets and was able to modify them all with the software fix by noon on Sunday, which was its busiest travel day, according to a statement to NBC News. Delta had fewer than 50 A320 jets affected, and United only had to modify six of its planes, NBC’s report said.
Airbus’s A320 family of aircraft is the most popular plane in aviation history. In October 2025, the A320 model surpassed Boeing’s 737 jets as the most-delivered plane variant around the world.
Airbus apologized “for any challenges and delays caused to passengers and airlines by this event.”
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