Jetstar A320 Flights Resume in Australia After Global Airbus Software Issue

Jetstar faced widespread disruptions across its Australian network over the weekend, grounding dozens of its A320/1 aircraft due to a global software anomaly. The issue led to the cancellation of 90 flights on Saturday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded, particularly impacting travelers from Melbourne Airport heading to popular destinations like Byron Bay and the Gold Coast. Engineering teams were rapidly deployed, primarily to east coast airports, to reverse a critical software upgrade on the affected fleet. The grounding stemmed from an urgent precautionary directive issued by European plane manufacturer Airbus, warning operators of a significant number of A320 family aircraft worldwide. Airbus identified that "intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls," prompting immediate action. This global alert followed an incident on October 30 where a US JetBlue flight made an emergency landing after an uncommanded drop in altitude. Over 6,000 aircraft, representing more than half of Airbus's global A320 family fleet, were affected by the alert. Jetstar confirmed that repairs, taking two to three hours per aircraft, were expected to conclude by Saturday night, allowing flights to largely resume on Sunday. However, the airline cautioned passengers to anticipate potential "flow-on delays or cancellations" as its network fully recovered. Australia's aviation safety regulator confirmed its awareness of the global A320 issue and stated it was in contact with major airlines, confident in their swift actions to minimize disruption and ensure safe return to service. Qantas and Virgin Airlines reported no impact from the software problem.