Metro Manila, Philippines – An Airbus aircraft software update has disrupted flights of major Philippine carriers that affected thousands of passengers on Saturday, Nov. 29.
Affected aircraft are the Airbus A320 and A321 models.
Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said 75 airplanes from Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and AirAsia Philippines were part of the 6,000 units that European aircraft maker Airbus recalled early Saturday morning.
Airbus and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued the emergency airworthiness directive, telling operators to conduct the fix before letting the planes fly again.
“By way of analogy, parang sa cellphone may mga bugs minsan [it’s like when there are bugs in cellphones] then you need a software update to make it work better,” Lopez said in a briefing.
“Kung bakit mas ninais namin at minabuti na gawin ang precautionary measures, ang nangingibabaw sa Kagawaran ng Transportasyon, CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines), CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board), at airlines, ‘yong kaligtasan ng ating mga pasahero,” he said.
[Translation: The safety of the passengers was the priority that’s why the Department of Transportation, CAAP, CAB, and airlines made sure to do these precautionary measures.]
Jose E. L. Perez de Tagle, executive director of the Air Carriers Association of the Philippines, reported around 14,000 passengers were affected by 78 flight cancellations from Cebu Pacific and PAL.
Cebu Pacific had the bulk of the cancellations while AirAsia Philippines said it was already compliant to the software update, resulting only in flight delays.
“There have been no cancellation of international [flights] and there have been a number of delays, and of course that’s a domino effect in the coming hours, in the 24 hours or so,” De Tagle said in a briefing.
“We were able to minimize the disruption actually because of the proactive measures taken, which is why we hope it (operations) would be improving from here on,” he said.
De Tagle said the airlines are expected to complete the software updates by Sunday noon. He added the software update in each plane takes two hours.
Transportation Undersecretary Jim Sydiongco said the maintenance preventive measure was triggered by the findings and recommendation of the investigation on the plane incidents in the United States on Oct. 30 and Nov. 7.
Sydiongco was referring to the JetBlue Airways flight on Oct. 30 from Cancun, Mexico, to New Jersey, where a number of passengers got hurt after the plane suffered a flight control issue and a sudden drop in altitude. On Nov. 7, a UPS cargo flight crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, and killed 13 people.
Lopez said the DOTr has checked various airports in the country for stranded passengers. He added that the situation at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 2 was back to normal on Saturday morning.
Cebu Pacific and PAL advised affected passengers to opt for either rebooking of their tickets, converting their tickets to travel credits, or refunding their tickets.
