Delta expects ‘limited’ impact from required Airbus modification
A manufacturer’s required update to certain aircraft after an October incident involving a JetBlue plane is not expected to have major effects to Delta Air Lines’ schedules.
Fewer than 50 planes in Atlanta-based Delta‘s fleet will be affected by an Airbus modification requirement, a spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday afternoon.
“As safety comes before everything else, Delta will fully comply with a directive and expects any resulting operational impact to be limited,” the company said in a statement.
Delta said it expects to be able to make the necessary modifications to its affected A321neo planes by Saturday morning through already planned aircraft maintenance.
Delta’s 86 A321neo planes make up more than 8% of the airline’s total fleet.
The modification request from the European airplane maker followed an Oct. 30 incident on a JetBlue A320 plane, which made an emergency landing in Florida after a sudden drop in altitude, the BBC reported. At least 15 people were injured.
The A320 and A321neo are all part of the same family of single-aisle, twin-engine aircraft.
The manufacturer requested immediate modifications to thousands of planes after the discovery that intense radiation from the sun could corrupt data crucial to flight controls, according to the BBC.
About the Author
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
