Airline travel in chaos after Airbus A320 jets face software fix to address safety concern

Nov. 29, 2025

Amidst the chaos of the Thanksgiving week-end travel rush, European authorities ordered an an emergency software fix to Airbus A320 commercial jets to address a safety issue. After an international JetBlue flight suddenly plunged in altitude on October 30, 2025, aviation regulatory authorities began investigating the cause. Some airline carriers were less affected than others. The Guardian reported that British Airways operates only three such aircraft, whilst American Airlines operates 209.

Further Reading :

• Airlines adopt software fix for Airbus A320 after plane has sudden altitude drop [The Associated Press]
  Nov. 29, 2025 — Airlines around the world canceled and delayed flights heading into the weekend to fix software on a widely used commercial aircraft after an analysis found the computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.
• Airbus issues major A320 recall after mid-air incident grounds planes, disrupting global travel [The Guardian]
  Nov. 28, 2025 — The world’s largest A320 operator, American Airlines, said 209 of its 480 A320 aircraft would need the fix. It said it mostly expected these to be completed by Saturday, with about two hours required for each plane.
• Drop in altitude on JetBlue flight that forced emergency landing injured at least 15, officials say [The Associated Press]
  Oct. 31, 2025 — At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to the hospital after a sudden drop in altitude on a flight from Mexico forced an emergency landing in Florida, officials said Friday.

Source Documents :

• AOT Recall of A320 aircraft for software fix : Airbus Group
  An Airbus A320 aircraft recently experienced an uncommanded and limited pitch down event. The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude, and the rest of the flight was uneventful. The subsequent investigation identified a vulnerability with the ELAC B hardware fitted with software L104 in case of exposure to solar flares. This was Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) Ref : A27N022-25 Rev 00.

Key Words :

• AMERICAN AIRLINES
• Airbus Group
• Federal Aviation Administration
• JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORPORATION