Flights were delayed and cancelled globally after Airbus ordered fixes to 6,000 of its A320 series planes, according to The Guardian.
The company said it’s taking action because “analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.”
Citing industry sources, Reuters reports that the event in question was an October 30 JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey, in which the plane suddenly lost altitude and had to make an emergency landing in Tampa.
The Federal Aviation Administration has reportedly issued an emergency airworthiness directive calling for the affected planes to revert to earlier software before they can fly again. A smaller subset will need to have their hardware changed, Airbus said.
An Airbus directive that ordered the immediate software update for 6,000 A320 planes has lead to flight disruptions around the world. As Reuters notes, that’s more than half of the 11,300 A320 jets in operation. The narrow-body A320 is widely used globally, but its largest operator is American Airlines, which has 480 of the model in its fleet.
American Airlines said 340 planes out of the 480 it has need to be updated, with each plane taking two hours, during one of the busiest weekends for travel in the US. It told CNBC that it expects the “overwhelming majority” of those planes to be completed through the night, with only a handful remaining on November 29. The recall also heavily affects Asian carriers that rely on A320s for short-haul flights. Japan’s ANA had to cancel 95 domestic flights for Saturday, affecting over 13,000 passengers.
In its announcement, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said it issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive after a problem manifested on a JetBlue flight back on October 30. Airbus said that an analysis of the event revealed “that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.” Solar flares, or bursts of electromagnetic radiation from the sun, are known to cause radio blackouts and the disruption of satellite and GPS signals,. To prevent future issues, the affected planes would have to revert to an earlier version of their software.
Thousands of Airbus A320s, the world’s top-selling commercial airliner, require an immediate software update, which Airbus warns could cause flight disruptions. Kris Van Cleave has more details.
This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.
This is the most important moment in the life of an airliner: when the new owner signs for it and picks it up, much like a driver picking up a new car from a dealer.
The aircraft in question is an Airbus A321neo, and it is parked at Hamburg-Finkenwerder, the German city’s second airport, which Airbus uses for testing, logistics, and delivery of airplanes to customers. Gathered around the plane are pilots and cabin crew, as well as two executives from Wizz Air, the low-cost Hungarian airline that is about to take delivery of it.
Airlines and manufacturers never disclose how much they pay for individual aircraft—partly because prices depend on many factors, including the number of planes purchased and the commercial history of each individual airline—but buying a plane is never cheap. The base price of a single Airbus A321neo is estimated to be around $110 million.
This particular plane, registered by Wizz Air as H9-WNM, was produced in Airbus’s Hamburg factory in just over a year. The site is one of the company’s four production centers, the others being in Toulouse, France; Mobile, Alabama; and Tianjin, China. Known as final assembly lines (FAL), these giant workshops are where a plane’s structural parts, on-board electronics, hydraulic and mechanical components, and other pieces all come together.
The final arming process of an Airbus A320neo in Hamburg.Photograph: Antonio Dini
But before these components reach the FAL, they need to be manufactured. Some are made internally by Airbus, others by third parties, and together making them involves dozens of factories and centers around the globe. Then there is the formidable logistical challenge of bringing them all together. This complex ballet involves shipments by boat, train, road, and air, with a small fleet of special transport planes—known as Belugas—playing a key role. These aircraft, with their prodigious girth that makes them resemble beluga whales, were created by Airbus to move large components such as fuselages from one production center to another.
A Lufthansa Airbus A340-313 aircraft taxis at Los Angeles International Airport before departing for Frankfurt on May 5, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Shares in Airbus fell by close to 11% on Tuesday after the company said it was cutting its targets for 2024, including aircraft deliveries and earnings.
Airbus on Monday said it was now expecting its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to come in at around 5.5 billion euros ($5.9 billion), down from a previous estimate of 6.5 to 7 billion euros affirmed on April 25.
The company said it was now anticipating to deliver approximately 770 commercial aircrafts this year, compared to a previous outlook near 800. Airbus also delayed its target timeline for ramping up the production of its A320 aircraft.
Europe-listed shares in the company were down 10.85% at 11:37 a.m. London time.
Airbus
The guidance cuts are partly linked to supply chain issues in Airbus’ commercial aircraft business, the company said.
“Airbus is facing persistent specific supply chain issues mainly in engines, aerostructures and cabin equipment,” the firm noted.
Airbus said it was also facing additional costs in its space systems division. It had recognized “commercial and technical challenges” in the business and was therefore recording charges of around 0.9 billion euros in the first half of 2024, Airbus said.
“These are mainly related to updated assumptions on schedules, workload, sourcing, risks and costs over the lifetime of certain telecommunications, navigation and observation programmes,” the company said.
Airbus’ half-year results are set to be released on July 30.
Earlier this year, Airbus’ operating profit for the first quarter came in weaker than expected, with CFO Thomas Toepfer at the time telling CNBC that company earnings were “not particularly strong.”
Two Malaysian military helicopters collided and crashed during a training session on Tuesday, killing all 10 people on board, the navy said.The helicopters were rehearsing at a naval base in northern Perak state for the navy’s 90th anniversary celebration next month when the accident occurred, the navy said in a brief statement.“All victims were confirmed dead on site,” it said, adding that the remains have been sent to the hospital to be identified.A video circulating on social media purported to be of the incident showed several helicopters flying low in a formation. One of the helicopters veered sideways and clipped the rotor of another helicopter, causing both to plunge and crash.Seven crew members were aboard the AW139 maritime operation helicopter, the navy said. That aircraft is produced by AgustaWestland, which is a subsidiary of the Italian defense contractor Leonardo. Three other crew members were on a Fennec lightweight helicopter, manufactured by European multinational defense conglomerate Airbus.Local media reported that the AW139 crashed at a sports complex at the naval base, while the Fennec hit a nearby swimming pool.The navy said it will launch an investigation to determine what caused the accident.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —
Two Malaysian military helicopters collided and crashed during a training session on Tuesday, killing all 10 people on board, the navy said.
The helicopters were rehearsing at a naval base in northern Perak state for the navy’s 90th anniversary celebration next month when the accident occurred, the navy said in a brief statement.
“All victims were confirmed dead on site,” it said, adding that the remains have been sent to the hospital to be identified.
A video circulating on social media purported to be of the incident showed several helicopters flying low in a formation. One of the helicopters veered sideways and clipped the rotor of another helicopter, causing both to plunge and crash.
Seven crew members were aboard the AW139 maritime operation helicopter, the navy said. That aircraft is produced by AgustaWestland, which is a subsidiary of the Italian defense contractor Leonardo. Three other crew members were on a Fennec lightweight helicopter, manufactured by European multinational defense conglomerate Airbus.
Local media reported that the AW139 crashed at a sports complex at the naval base, while the Fennec hit a nearby swimming pool.
The navy said it will launch an investigation to determine what caused the accident.
OVER 700 Airbus airline staff have fallen ill after eating the company’s Christmas dinner.
Health authorities in France confirmed that workers were left vomiting and suffering from diarrhoea.
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More than 700 Airbus airline staff have fallen ill after eating the company’s Christmas dinnerCredit: Getty
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While it is not known what was on the festive menu, workers were left vomiting and suffering from diarrhoeaCredit: Getty
While it is not known what was on the festive menu, Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS) said that at only “around 100” were taken ill at the meal in western France last week.
Airbus has since been co-operating with the ARS, according to the BBC, “to identify the cause of the illness and ensure this cannot happen again in the future”.
But an investigation has been launched to find the source of the mass food poisoning.
Airbus is the largest aircraft maker in the world, and Airbus Atlantic is a subsidiary of the company.
Across five countries there are 15,000 people employed by the cooperation.
The Airbus group hires 134,000 people and offers products and services in the aircraft, helicopter, defence, space and security industries.
An ECDPC spokesperson said: “The outbreak strain was detected in a mixed salad dish containing cherry tomatoes among green leaf vegetables prepared on August 17, 2022, in France.
“Tomatoes in the salad in France and tomatoes suspected as vehicles of the infections in Austria were traced back to wholesalers in Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain, and to tomato growers in the Netherlands, Spain, and Morocco.”
Boeing Stock Usually Wins From the Paris Air Show. This Is the Catch.
Investors who are buying into the post-Covid recovery of commercial aerospace will get an important update about the industry, including the hot issues of sustainability and supply-chain snags, when the Paris Air Show kicks off on Monday.
(ticker: BA) has run into a new problem with its 737 MAX jet. The issue will test investors nerves in coming weeks, and raise more questions about the company’s ability to increase production in 2023.
Airbus is preparing the ground for further delays to planned delivery dates of some medium-haul aircraft in 2023 even as it races to meet delivery targets for 2022 in the face of supply chain and labour problems, three industry sources said.
The twin-speed approach comes as uncertainty remains over supplies of engines for new plane production as well as other parts and labour, they added, asking not to be named.
A spokesperson for Airbus said it had no comment on deliveries ahead of its next monthly bulletin in early December.
Analysts say aerospace is grappling with a series of concurrent problems with multiple knock-on effects.
Jetliner and engine makers are battling supply chain and labour problems, but so too are the worldwide repair shops needed to help airlines meet a sharper-than-expected recovery in demand by keeping their existing aircraft in service.
The logjam in repair capacity has left dozens of planes grounded as their engines are late coming out of overhaul, and that in turn has created competition for engines between new aircraft assembly lines and spares for the existing fleet.
At least one engine maker is experiencing renewed pressure to shift more engines away from supporting aircraft production to a pool of spares for existing customers, the sources said.
Airbus produces A320-neo family jets with a choice of engines from General Electric and Safran joint venture CFM International or Raytheon Technologies unit Pratt & Whitney. Boeing uses solely CFM for its 737 family.
Data showing how many jets are unused because of maintenance delays as opposed to economic or other reasons is not available. But there are signs the total number of parked A320neo-family jets has risen since early this year, led by Pratt versions, even as demand for travel on such aircraft has been increasing.
Currently some 129 Pratt-powered Airbus jets and 55 fitted with CFM’s LEAP engines are parked, according to Ascend by Cirium’s head of global consulting Rob Morris.
Neither engine maker had any immediate comment.
In October, Airbus and Safran struck a more upbeat note on recently disrupted engine supplies than Boeing, which said during quarterly earnings that engines were its main constraint.
At the same time, engine industry sources insist snags on their side of the fence are not solely to blame for delays. One executive denied any additional pressure on engine supplies.
Jetmakers have been facing difficulties getting other parts on time including galleys and lavatories, one executive said.
In July, Airbus said it would reach an interim production goal of 65 A320-family narrow-body jets a month in early 2024 instead of summer 2023. It targets 75 a month in 2025.
Change in mindset and an enabling policy environment were both resulting in the country making significant strides in the manufacturing sector, prime minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.
Addressing a gathering to mark the launch of work on the facility to manufacture Airbus’ C-295 transport military aircraft in Vadodara in Gujarat, the prime minister said, “Earlier, the mindset was that India couldn’t excel in manufacturing. That is why it must only remain focused on the services sector. Today, we are improving the services sector as well as enriching the manufacturing sector.”
Noting that in these times no country could advance by merely developing its services or manufacturing sector, he observed, “We, therefore, need to adopt a holistic approach in development. Today, New India has started its journey on that path with a renewed sense of confidence.”
With the investment being one of the highest received in the segment, the prime minister said the upcoming facility had the potential to transform the country’s aerospace and defence sectors.
“The military transport aircraft made here will provide strength to our armed forces and it will also help boost the development of an ecosystem for aircraft manufacturing. Although India has been exporting small aircraft parts to different countries in the past, this is the first time that a military transport aircraft will be fully manufactured here,” he remarked.
The prime minister welcomed the fact that 100 entities from the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) would also be associated with the project and that the facility would also be capable of servicing export orders over time.
“I can see a time when some of the biggest passenger aircraft are also manufactured in India. And they will be carrying the words ‘Make in India’,” he declared.
India readying itself to keep pace with growth in aviation sector
Informing that as one of the fastest-growing aviation markets globally, India would soon be joining the ranks of the top three countries by airline traffic, he said millions of new passengers would get added over the next five years.
“It is estimated that in the next 10-15 years, India will need 2,000 new passenger and cargo aircraft. India has already started preparation to meet this surge in demand and today’s event is an important step in that direction,” he asserted.
He further added that India offered a golden opportunity to the world. Despite the circumstances created by corona, war and disruptions to global supply chains, the growth momentum in the country’s manufacturing sector had sustained. This had happened because operating conditions were continuously improving, with the country providing opportunities in low-cost manufacturing and high outcomes, a huge talent pool of skilled manpower and an unprecedented policy environment.
Once operational, the C-295 aircraft manufacturing facility will be the first such entity in the private sector in the country. A collaboration between Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus Defence and Space of Spain, it will be manufacturing 40 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the groundwork for the C-295 aircraft manufacturing plant in Vadodara, Gujarat. Airbus and Tata Advanced Systems Limited’s joint venture will manufacture 40 C-295 military transport planes at the facility as part of a Rs 22,000 crore deal to supply 56 such planes. Airbus will supply the Rest 16 planes directly from Spain.
While laying the groundwork for the assembly plant, PM Modi stated that the aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara represents India’s giant leap toward aviation self-sufficiency. He stated that India will be a major hub for large aircraft maintenance, both passenger and cargo planes.
He said, “The transport aircraft that’ll be manufactured here will not only give power to our Army but also develop a new ecosystem of manufacturing aircraft… Soon, India will witness the passenger aircraft that will be made with the tag of ‘Make In India’”.
The aircraft built in India would be delivered between September 2023 and August 2025, with the first 16 fly-away aircraft scheduled to be delivered to the IAF between September 2023 and August 2025.
In September of last year, India agreed to pay Airbus Defence and Space Rs. 21,935 crore for 56 C-295 aircraft to replace the IAF’s ageing Avro-748 planes, which entered service in the early 1960s.
Under the terms of the agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in ‘fly-away’ condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain within four years, and the remaining 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled in India by Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) as part of the two companies’ industrial partnership.
With more than 42.5 lakh man-hours of work in the aerospace and defence sector, the project is expected to generate 600 highly skilled jobs directly, over 3,000 indirect jobs, and an additional 3,000 medium-skill employment o
N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons said, “With the set-up of the Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Vadodara, the Tata Group will now be able to take aluminium ingots at one end of the value stream and turn it into a Airbus C295 aircraft for the Indian Air Force. This is a historic moment not only for the Tata Group but for the country, as it embraces the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of being truly ‘Atmanirbhar.”
The C295 is used for tactical transport of up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers, as well as logistic operations to locations inaccessible to current heavier aircraft. It is capable of airdropping paratroops and loads, as well as casualty or medical evacuation. The aircraft can carry out special missions such as disaster response and maritime patrol.
Exports from Paine Field adjacent to Boeing’s manufacturing complex outside of Seattle and included … [+] with data from the Port of Everett, once dominated all other airports. Through August, it is accounting for 4.8% of the total in 2022.
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Boeing BA stock got a little lift on Friday on the potential for good news.
The bump was based on the hopes that the beleaguered airline might beat out rival Airbus for a possible contract for more than 100 United widebody jets.
After a bumpy ride the last several years — two fatal crashes and a global pandemic — Boeing could use a “good” bump.
Regardless which one of the world’s two dominate aircraft manufacturers wins the contract, presuming it comes to fruition — Chicago-based Boeing or the European consortium Airbus — something will happen this year that has not not happened in decades.
The United States will almost certainly see the primary aircraft category, the one that includes Boeing jets, fall to a No. 4 rank in 2022.
That, to my knowledge, has not happened for decades. Prior to the release of 2021 data earlier this year, the category had ranked first among more than 1,200 categories in 14 of the previous 17 years. It ranked second the other three.
Boeing, as the overwhelmingly dominant force in the aviation category, has long been the poster child for American exports, a sign of American might.
The big three energy exports — refined petroleum, oil and natural gas — now all outrank the … [+] commercial aircraft category.
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The third was about refined petroleum, the top export, followed by one on oil, which ranks second, and natural gas, which includes LNG and ranks third.
The good news, short of any announcement by United, is that exports in the primary aviation category, which includes jets and parts, is showing an increase this year, up 14.85%.
That’s slower growth than overall U.S. exports, which are up 20.74%. And well below the increase for high-flying refined petroleum, oil and natural gas, which are up 120.66%, 121.52% and 222.44%, respectively.
But considering that aircraft exports, at $56.29 billion through August, are down 31.65% from the same eight months of 2018, before the crashes and before the pandemic, the road to recovery remains long. In that same time period that aircraft exports fell almost 32%, U.S. exports have risen 23.94%.
Most severely affected in that time period among U.S. airports has been Paine Field near Seattle, which the U.S. Census Bureau includes with the Port of Everett and its ocean cargo. Paine Field is adjacent to Boeing’s manufacturing operations, an enormous complex home to the “largest building in the world.”
Aviation exports from there stood at $2.88 billion through this August, which is an increase from the same eight months last year, when the total was $1.74 billion. But for eight consecutive years, from 2012 to 2019, exports through August topped $10 billion, including three years above $15 billion and one above $19 billion.
Commercial jet and part exports from Paine Field led the nation 14 of 15 years, from 2005 through 2019. In 2020, exports from Cleveland’s Hopkins International Airport led the nation on an annualized basis. In 2021, it was Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which is on top this year as well.
Aircraft exports were riding high until 2020 and have yet to recover.
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It appears the recovery, for Boeing and for U.S. aviation exports generally, will be underway when the numbers tied to Paine Field start rising to the top again.
At this point, it ranks No. 8, behind not only Seattle-Tacoma International Airport but also Miami International Airport, Cleveland International Airport, New Orleans International Airport, Atlanta International Airport, JFK International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.
It’s been a bumpy few years for Boeing, long a stalwart performer among U.S. exports, one of the most powerful U.S. brands on the global market. It could use a “good” bump from United.
