Airbus has fixed most of its jets affected by a software glitch after a technical problem grounded thousands of its planes, but its shares tumbled on Monday after it discovered a separate issue with its fuselage panels.
Airlines around the world cancelled and delayed flights over the weekend after the French plane manufacturer ordered immediate repairs to 6,000 of its A320 family of jets, more than half of its global fleet.
Airbus said on Friday that analysis of a recent incident had revealed “intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls”.
The alert marked the biggest recall in Airbus’s 55-year history and came only weeks after the A320 overtook the rival Boeing 737 as the most-delivered jet.
The recall also coincided with Thanksgiving weekend in the US, where the airlines Delta, United and American were left exposed to the problem during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
Airbus said last week that about 6,000 A320 aircraft needed software or hardware fixes to solve the problems. On Monday it said the “vast majority” of those fixes were complete.
“Airbus apologises for any challenges and delays caused to passengers and airlines by this event,” the company said.
There are now fewer than 100 aircraft that still need the software update before they can return to service, Airbus said in a statement. Up to 15% of the planes may still require a hardware upgrade, analysts at Deutsche Bank have estimated.
However, shares in Airbus fell by as much as 6% later on Monday after Reuters reported the company had identified a separate quality problem affecting a “limited number” of A320 metal panels.
A spokesperson for Airbus said: “Airbus is taking a conservative approach and is inspecting all aircraft potentially impacted, knowing that only a portion of them will need further action to be taken.
“The source of the issue has been identified, contained and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements.”
For most of the A320 aircraft affected by the software problem, the fix is relatively simple, requiring the installation of an older version of the software. This process takes about two to three hours per aircraft.
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The UK transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said over the weekend: “The impact on UK airlines seems limited. It is heartening this issue has been identified and will be addressed so swiftly, demonstrating the high aviation safety standards globally.”
The London-listed airlines easyJet and Wizz Air told investors on Monday morning that they had completed the software updates over the weekend without cancelling any flights.
However, the fix could be more complex for older planes. Aarin Chiekrie, an equity analyst at the investment broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “For some older aircraft, about 900 planes, the fix will require a hardware change before they can fly again, which could take several weeks due to limited supplies.”
The American low-cost airline JetBlue said late on Sunday that it expected to be able to return 137 out of the 150 affected aircraft back to service by Monday and that it planned to cancel about 20 flights, according to Reuters.
Shares in Airbus, which are listed in Paris, have fallen by about 4% over the past five days, although they are still up by about 20% so far this year. The company, which is headquartered near Toulouse, employs about 157,000 people around the world.
