Airbus announced on Friday the recall of nearly 6,000 A320 aircraft to urgently replace control software vulnerable to solar radiation, following an incident in the United States at the end of October. This decision has caused delays and cancellations worldwide.
The European manufacturer stated in a press release that it had asked all customers using this software to immediately aborte their flights after analyzing the technical failure. The incident involved a JetBlue flight between Cancún, Mexico, and Newark, near New York, which had to make an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida. According to Airbus, intense solar radiation may have corrupted data essential to the operation of the flight controls.
For most aircraft, the software update takes only a few hours. However, for approximately 1,000 aircraft, a hardware replacement is required, which could take several weeks.
Situation under control in Morocco
In Morocco, the situation remains under control. No flight cancellations have been reported. Air Arabia Maroc, whose fleet consists exclusively of 11 Airbus A320-200s, confirmed that it has not experienced any impact. “We managed to install the updates on time,” an authorized source at the company told us.
In a message posted on X, parent company Air Arabia, based in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), confirmed the successful completion of the software and technical update on all affected aircraft in our A320 fleet, adding that the installation was carried out quickly and with minimal disruption, despite this period of high demand.
Update Regarding Airbus A320 Advisory
— Air Arabia (@airarabiagroup) November 30, 2025
In line with the advisory received from Airbus regarding the required software and technical update for the A320 aircraft type, we confirm the successful completion of the update across all affected aircraft in our A320 fleet.
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Royal Air Maroc (RAM), whose fleet currently comprises 60 aircraft, primarily Boeings and a few Embraer and ATR models, was not affected, as the airline does not operate any Airbus aircraft. However, RAM is considering integrating Airbus aircraft as part of its new development program. In April 2024, the airline launched a tender for the acquisition or renewal of a fleet that could reach 200 aircraft by 2037. CEO Abdelhamid Addou indicated at the time that RAM was studying offers from Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer, marking a turning point for the airline, which has historically been linked to Boeing. His visit to the Airbus facilities in Toulouse in 2024 demonstrates the genuine interest in Airbus in this process.
