New Zealand travellers are experiencing major disruptions this morning after a global software issue forced airlines worldwide to halt flights operated by Airbus A320 aircraft.
The country's two major airlines, Air New Zealand and Jetstar, have grounded planes while they work to resolve the issue.
In a statement, Airbus said analysis of a recent event involving the A320 family had revealed that "intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls".
"Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in service which may be impacted."
The manufacturer said it had worked "proactively" with 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".
"Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority."
Air New Zealand chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw said the national carrier had been affected by the software issue.
"As a precaution, all A320neo aircraft in our fleet will receive a software update before operating their next passenger service.
"This will lead to disruption across a number of our A320neo flights today and we’re expecting a number of cancellations to services across that fleet."
He said all customers would be contacted directly if their flight was affected.
Passengers could also check the latest flight updates on the Air New Zealand app or website.
"We will provide an update when we have more information on the impact to our services today."
Jetstar flights were also facing disruption, with the budget airline saying some planes were unable to depart.
"Due to an issue affecting Airbus A320 operators globally, some of Jetstar’s Airbus-operated flights are unable to depart at this stage”, the airline said in a statement.
"We’re working through the impacts on our fleet and to our customers. We’ll have more information shortly."
More to come
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