Khaberni - Airbus announced that up to 628 A320 aircraft may be subject to inspection processes, to verify the presence of a potential defect in some metal panels, confirming at the same time that the problem is specific and contained.
The company clarified that 628 aircraft is a theoretical maximum number, but it expects that only a limited number of aircraft will actually show the defect, pointing out that the number of potentially affected aircraft "decreases day by day" as the inspection processes that enable the identification of aircraft needing technical intervention progress, according to the French "20 Minutes" radio station.
These clarifications come at a time when the company is trying to alleviate concerns about a new quality issue that was discovered in its best-selling A320 model.
The inspections include metal panels mounted on the structure of A320 aircraft, and Airbus confirmed that the defect is contained, and that its usual procedures in such cases are based on reviewing all the aircraft that might be concerned based on supply chain analysis.
This issue coincides with another recall also related to the A320 family, concerning an urgent software correction after an incident in late October on a JetBlue flight between Cancun and New York, during which the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after a sudden loss of altitude, attributed to the software's sensitivity to solar radiation.
Airbus had recommended last Friday that airlines temporarily suspend the operation of about 6,000 aircraft until the software update is installed.
The company stated that it was able to intervene quickly on most of these aircraft in the following days, which helped avoid widespread disruptions in air travel.
Since its service entry in 1988, the A320 still holds the title of the world's best-selling commercial aircraft, with more than 12,000 aircraft delivered by the end of September.
