We're hearing from more airlines around the world who are now reporting potential disruptions to services as a result of the immediate recall of aircraft by Airbus.

• American Airlines says 340 of its planes are affected and that it expects "some operational delays" but expects the vast majority of updates to completed today or tomorrow
• Delta Airlines says it will comply with Airbus's instruction but expects any resulting operational impact to be "limited"
• Air India says the instruction from Airbus could lead to a "longer turnaround and delays to our scheduled operations
• Wizz Air has warned passengers flying over this weekend that they may face disruption as a result of the update

We'll bring you further airline updates when we have them.

Why this is an extremely unusual issuepublished at 21:06 GMT

21:06 GMT

Theo Leggett
Business correspondent

It was experienced on one flight, when an aircraft flying from Cancun to New Jersey was affected by a sudden and intense solar storm.

The radiation corrupted data in the ELAC - a computer used to operate control surfaces on the wings and horizontal stabilizer.

The fault caused the plane to go into a sudden descent.

Airbus says the plane had recently had its software updated. The issue had never arisen with the previous software.

But now, it insists it is acting out of an abundance of caution.

It took the issue to regulators itself and asked airlines to make changes.

Image source, Getty Images

EasyJet says its aware of the communication from Airbus to airlines operating the A320 family aircraft and is "currently working closely with the safety authorities and Airbus to implement the action we need to take".

The airline says it is expecting this to result in some disruption and will "inform customers directly about any changes to our flying programme tomorrow and will do all possible to minimise the impact".

“Safety is our highest priority and EasyJet operates its fleet of aircraft in strict compliance with manufacturers guidelines,” its statement concludes.

Image source, Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand says it's currently affected by a "global software issue impacting Airbus A320neo aircraft", it says in a post on social media platform X., external

"As a precaution, all our A320neo aircrafts will be receiving a software update before operating their next passenger service," the airline says.

The statement continues by saying "this will lead to disruption across a number of our A320neo flights today and we’re expecting a number of cancellations to services across that fleet".

"If you’re travelling today, we will be contacting customers directly if your flight is affected," the airline adds.

Tim Johnson from the UK's Civil Aviation Authority tells the BBC that there may be disruptions to flights "in some circumstances".

"From a UK perspective, not all airlines fly Airbus A320 or the affected ones, so for some airlines there will be no impact at all," he says.

"For some, there may be some impact," he continues, adding that the CAA has been in touch with airlines and they're looking to make sure the maintenance is undertaken over the coming days.

He says the advice to customers is to "check airline websites and apps for the latest info about what is happening".

Theo Leggett
Business correspondent

The issue was discovered after a JetBlue aircraft en-route from Mexico to the United States in October experienced a ‘sudden drop in altitude’.

The plane made an emergency landing, with reports at the time suggesting 15 to 20 people suffered minor injuries.

It’s thought the incident was caused by intense solar radiation, which corrupted data in a computer used to help control the aircraft.

Now action is being taken to prevent further problems. About 6,000 aircraft worldwide are thought to be affected, all of them of the A320 family, which also includes the A319 and A321 models.

According to Airbus, the majority can be fixed with a relatively simple software update. However, some 900 older planes will need replacement computers, and will have to be taken out of service until they can be fixed.

Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter

Airbus says that flights will be disrupted after it requested immediate modifications to thousands of its planes.

The plane manufacturer says it has found that intense radiation from the Sun could corrupt data crucial to flight controls.

About 6,000 planes are thought to be affected, which is around half of the company’s global fleet.

It’s thought most will be able to undergo a simple software update.

We’ll be bringing you live coverage as well as information on any potential disruption, stay with us.