European aircraft maker Airbus said thousands of its planes will require software and sometimes hardware upgrades because the sun’s powerful radiation can distort data needed for navigation.
The problem was discovered after an accident with a Jet Blue airliner A320 on October 30 in the US state of Florida. He began to rapidly lose altitude and was forced to make an emergency landing. At least 15 people were injured.
The problem affects the most popular model aircraft, the A320, as well as the A318, A319 and A321. That’s about 6,000 machines in total (about half the world’s fleet), but for about 5,100, a relatively simple software update will suffice, taking about three hours, the BBC reports.
Airlines that have already admitted they will have to temporarily ground some aircraft include Wizz Air, Air India and Air New Zealand.
Easyjet initially said it “expects some disruption as a result” of which it would inform passengers directly. A few hours later, the company announced that it had already installed the updates on “many” aircraft.
American Airlines has released more details: 340 of its aircraft are affected, but the vast majority of the upgrades will be completed within the next few days.