Portugal’s flag carrier TAP is one of hundreds of airlines affected by the Airbus ‘recall’ of a significant number of A320s, which require important software updates following an incident in which ‘intense solar radiation may have corrupted critical flight control data.’

The airline has not revealed how many A320s it has in service, but assures that the necessary updates are being performed with ‘reduced impact’ on flight schedules, and no need for any cancellations.

Airbus issued a global warning yesterday about the need for immediate updates in the wake of an incident almost a month ago – on a flight between Cancun, Mexico and Newark, USA, – which left a number of passengers injured. The ‘sharp loss of altitude’ seems to have emanated from a “malfunction of the affected ELAC” (the computer which controls elevator and aileron surfaces).

The good news is that repairs take roughly two hours, and consist of restoring previously used software.

This is definitely Airbus’s largest recall in its 55-year history, but it is ‘doable’.

A source for TAP has said: “We are keeping abreast of the situation. The fleet is being updated with reduced impact on flight operations and without cancellations – and always with maximum priority given to the safety of passengers and crew”.

SATA (Azores’ airlines) has been equally proactive, saying that it hopes to have its nine A320s fully updated before midnight tonight.

The Airbus 320 aircraft entered service in 1988 and is now the most sold aircraft on the planet.