Airbus narrowbody aircraft worldwide needed an urgent computer fix. Thousands of planes worldwide were rushed for software maintenance.
The Elevator Aileron Computers (ELACs) on the A320 family had a bad software load that could be corrupted by solar radiation, which in rare cases can drive uncommanded control inputs (nose-down) and create a structural-load risk.
This followed an incident on a JetBlue A320 on October 30th where a Cancun to Newark flight pitched down on its own. Pilots diverted to Tampa and about 15 passengers were hospitalized after the aircraft rapidly descended without being instructed by pilots to do so.
- Airbus had rolled out a new ELAC software standard (often referred to as L104, on ELAC B L104 computers).
- Investigation showed that intense solar radiation could corrupt data inside the ELAC running that software load, leading to wrong control-law outputs.
- EASA issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive on Nov 28, 2025, and the FAA followed.
Before next flight, affected aircraft either needed a roll back to the earlier good software, or to replace the ELAC computers. About 900 older aircraft needed the hardware swapped, not just a software rollback.
Generally U.S. airlines got this done quickly where needed. U.S. airlines, except JetBlue.
- JetBlue led the world in cancellations on Sunday, with 166 flights (16% of its operation). By contrast, American Airlines cancelled 1%.
- Cancellations will certainly continue Monday.
Aviation watchdog JonNYC shares what’s going on. Many of JetBlue’s A320s need to have the computer removed, not just updating or rolling back software loads. And that means sourcing computers “from around the world.” They have computers inbound today and tomorrow – at least “a large number of them” – but perhaps not all that they need.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) November 30, 2025
Jon as usual has the scoop from internal airline comms.
JetBlue should’ve ideally been able to get an FAA waiver for this. Ironically, American wasn’t as badly affected because they didn’t keep many of their planes up to date with the latest software whereas JetBlue was up to date and now has to downgrade.
Well, JFK is packed, wet, and cold tonight, so there’s that at least… safe travels, everyone.