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SriLankan Airlines says none of its Airbus fleet affected by software issue
View(s):SriLankan Airlines – which flies 9 aircraft from the Airbus A320 family (including A32-200 and A320neo) – yesterday said none of their planes were affected by a software issue that Airbus warns might cause intense solar radiation to corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls in the A320 family of aircraft.
“None of our aircraft are affected,” said Deepal Perera, the airline’s Manager of Corporate Communications, adding he obtained the information from SriLankan Engineering. He was unable to immediately provide further details, such as whether the France-based Airbus had been in touch with SriLankan over the software issue which has led to canceled and delayed flights around the world.
It was therefore unclear how SriLankan knew that it was “not affected”, and whether this meant none of its A320 planes would need the software update.
In a statement released on Friday, Airbus said it had identified “a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted”. It said “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”.
“Airbus has worked proactively with the aviation authorities to request immediate precautionary action from operators via an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) in order to implement the available software and/or hardware protection, and ensure the fleet is safe to fly,” it continued. “This AOT will be reflected in an Emergency Airworthiness Directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).”
“Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” it concluded. “We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority.”
News reports said that the relevant computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.
Airbus’s A320 fleet numbers about 6,000 aircraft worldwide.
SriLankan Airlines cancelled and delayed a large number of flights since Friday but said it was owing to the effects of inclement weather and Cyclone Ditwah which prevented its staff from arriving at work.
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