Uh oh: Airbus issues rare recall for A320s, expects disruptions

Zach Griff

2 days ago

ZACH GRIFF

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Update 11/28/25: Alaska Airlines confirms that its fleet of Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A320 family jets is not affected.

Delta says that “it will fully comply with a directive and expects any resulting operational impact to be limited.” It expects the directive to apply to fewer than 50 Airbus A321neo aircraft.

United initially said no aircraft would be affected, but now says “six aircraft in our fleet are affected, and we expect minor disruption to a few flights.”

Furthermore, after further discussion and clarification from Airbus, American has only 209 impacted A320 family aircraft, down from the more than 340 initially identified.

If your upcoming flight involves an Airbus A320 family jet, you might want to pay extra close attention to your flight status.

That’s because Airbus just issued a rare emergency order for a “significant number” of A320 family planes due to the possibility of corrupted flight data that could affect the functioning of flight deck control systems.

The planemaker says that it observed corrupted data due to intense solar radiation when investigating a recent (unspecified) event.

Notably, Airbus says its recommendations “will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers.”

It’s not immediately clear what type of work airlines will need to perform to get their A319, A320, and A321 jets back in service, but an airworthiness directive should be issued to carriers in the coming hours. Once that’s issued, airlines will have a better sense of what’s needed to address this critical issue.

American, United respond to A320 recall

Of the major U.S. airlines, only one carrier — Southwest — doesn’t fly Airbus A320 family jets. A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed that the carrier’s Airbus A320 and A321neo jets are not affected by the emergency directive.

American, meanwhile, says that it “took swift action to address the software issue Airbus identified” and has already started completing the required updates. “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,” a spokesperson added. American has about 480 A320 family aircraft in total. Of those, approximately 340 aircraft require the software replacement.

I’ve reached out to the other major U.S. airlines to learn more about their A320 operations.

How airlines will fix the A320

It’s my understanding that a two-hour software update should fix most affected jets, but it remains to be seen how involved the process is — and on what timeline the updates must be completed. For instance, if the fixes need to be applied immediately, some jets may be temporarily grounded due to the directive.

Given Airbus’s warning of the possibility of major disruptions, I’d definitely keep a close eye on your flight status over the coming days. Note this applies globally, not just to A320 jets in the U.S.

Of course, stay tuned here because I’ll provide updates as I receive them.

Zach Griff Author

Zach Griff is a travel expert who’s covered airlines, loyalty programs, credit cards, and travel tech for nearly a decade. He’s visited 60+ countries and regularly shares his insights across Instagram, TikTok and X — and at From the Tray Table.