India’s A320 fix: IndiGo, Air India near finish line with A320 software upgrade on over 90% of 338 jets

For passengers, the near-term trade-off is modest delays in exchange for a tighter safety margin on one of the world’s most widely used jets.

Indian carriers operating Airbus A320 family aircraft are racing to complete an emergency software upgrade ordered after a potential flight-control risk was flagged, leading to 60–90 minute delays and a few cancellations but no large-scale disruption so far.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 270 of the 338 A320 family aircraft that need the fix had been upgraded as of 5.30 pm on November 29, with more than 90 percent of the affected fleet now covered. IndiGo and Air India reported no cancellations linked to the exercise, while Air India Express cancelled four flights.

IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express began rolling out the software changes on Saturday across bases in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, following an Airbus alert and an Emergency Airworthiness Directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The fix targets the Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC), which controls key flight functions.

The push follows Airbus’ analysis of a recent A320 incident in which intense solar radiation may have corrupted data used by the flight-control computers. EASA responded with an emergency directive, and the DGCA on Saturday issued its own Airworthiness Directive asking Indian operators to implement the software changes immediately, with a completion target of 5.29 am on November 30.

DGCA data show 200 IndiGo aircraft were affected; upgrades were initially completed for 184 and later extended to the full A320 fleet. IndiGo said all 200 A320-family aircraft are now “fully updated and compliant”, with zero cancellations linked to the exercise and only “minimal delays” on some sectors.

Air India has 113 impacted jets, of which software upgrades had been completed on 69 by Friday evening and more than 90 percent by late Saturday, according to the airline. Air India Express has 25 affected aircraft and has completed upgrades on a majority of them; four flights were cancelled during the modification window.

What is being fixed on the A320s?

EASA said Airbus had asked operators to install a “serviceable” Elevator Aileron Computer in the affected aircraft. ELAC is the system that interprets pilot inputs on the side-stick and translates them into movement of the aircraft’s elevators and ailerons, which control pitch and roll.

Former pilot Ehsan Khalid told PTI Videos that ELACs function as the “brain and nervous system” of the aircraft’s control surfaces, and that a software problem affecting one of these computers is “significant”. He cited an October 30 incident involving a JetBlue A320, where an uncommanded pitch-down lasting about seven seconds caused the aircraft to lose around 100 feet and injured more than 15 people.

At cruising altitude, such a brief deviation is usually manageable, Khalid noted, but a similar event near the ground could have more serious consequences. Airbus has publicly acknowledged a software issue and committed to fixing it via the current upgrade campaign.

Context: global A320 fleet under the scanner

Globally, nearly 6,000 A320 family jets are affected by the software directive. Most will require a software update, while a smaller subset may need hardware realignment. More than 8,100 A320 family aircraft, including A319s, A320ceos and neos, and A321ceos and neos, are in service worldwide, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

India’s carriers are among the largest A320 operators, with IndiGo alone flying more than 2,300 services daily. The decision to opt for a software reset rather than a widespread grounding has allowed airlines and regulators to balance safety with continuity of operations, but at the cost of short-term delays as aircraft are cycled through upgrade slots.

What this means for passengers

For now, travellers are mostly facing delays rather than chaos. Sources told PTI that flight delays at Indian airports have typically ranged between 60 and 90 minutes during the upgrade window. IndiGo and Air India have maintained schedule integrity without cancellations tied directly to the software reset, while Air India Express logged four cancellations.

Passengers flying on A320 family jets over the next few days may still see minor delays or rescheduling as final upgrades are completed and aircraft are repositioned. Airlines say safety checks and software configurations are being done within prescribed timelines and under DGCA oversight, and that all upgraded aircraft are now operating with the latest approved configuration.