Airbus says under 100 A320s still grounded after solar-radiation software alert

Fewer than 100 Airbus A320 jets remained grounded Monday for an urgent software update, the plane-maker said, after issuing an alert last week that 6,000 aircraft were affected.”The vast majority have now received the necessary modifications,” Airbus said in a press release.

“We are working with our airline customers to support the modification of less than 100 remaining aircraft to ensure they can be returned to service.”

Europe’s top plane manufacturer instructed its clients on Friday to take “immediate precautionary action” to replace software.The announcement raised concerns that hundreds of planes would need to be grounded for long periods.

However, several leading European airlines stated that there had been minimal or no cancellations as a result.

Colombian airline Avianca said 70 percent of its fleet had been impacted and warned of “significant disruptions in the next 10 days”, suspending ticket sales until December 8.

Airbus issued its alert after evaluating a technical malfunction on board a JetBlue flight in October. The glitch indicated that intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to the flight controls.