Aviation regulator DGCA on Sunday said Indian carriers have completed software upgrades on 323 operational A320 family aircraft to address a potential issue related to flight controls.
On Friday, Airbus said intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft and that the software changes required to fix the issue would create operational disruptions.
A total of 338 A320 family aircraft with IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express were initially identified for upgrades. Of these, 323 were operational, six were under base maintenance and nine in Air India’s fleet were later found not to require the modification, a senior DGCA official said.
IndiGo has completed upgrades on all 200 of its operational A320 family planes. Air India had 113 affected aircraft, and upgrades were carried out on 100 planes while four remain under base maintenance and nine did not need changes.
Air India Express completed upgrades on 23 planes, with two under maintenance for redelivery.
On Saturday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued an Airworthiness Directive asking Indian operators to complete the required software work immediately. That followed Airbus issuing a global alert and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) releasing an Emergency Airworthiness Directive regarding the potential issue.
On Friday, EASA said Airbus asked airline operators to install a serviceable Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC) in impacted aircraft. ELAC controls flight surfaces.