6,000 Airbus A320s Grounded Urgently: How Many Flights will be Cancelled this Saturday?

After Airbus’ announcement to recall 6,000 planes, disruptions are possible at airports around the world. Overview.

Airbus announced this Friday 28th November 2025 the recall of some 6,000 A320 aircraft, to urgently replace control software vulnerable to solar radiation, after an incident at the end of October in the United States.

The European aircraft manufacturer announced in a press release that it had asked all customers using this software “to immediately stop the flights” after technical failure analysis.

For most aircraft, changing software to its previous version will take “a few hours”. But for some, 1,000 planes will involve changing computer equipment, which will take weeks”, a source close to the matter explained to AFP.

Disturbances

And obviously, from this Friday evening, the Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot, anticipated disruptions.

Pour des raisons de sécurité, une partie des avions de la famille A320 d’Airbus doit recevoir une mise à jour.
Dans l’attente de cette mise à jour, environ 6000 avions vont être immobilisés de manière préventive dans les prochaines heures ou les prochains jours.
Des…
— Philippe Tabarot (@PhilippeTabarot) November 28, 2025

The European Aviation Regulator (EASA) said in a statement that it had been informed by Airbus.

“These measures could cause short-term disruptions to flight schedules, and therefore inconvenience for passengers. However, as is always the case in aviation, safety comes first”, he wrote.

In Toulouse, several flights have already been canceled as reported by toulouse news.

Air France impacted

Air France has already cancelled around 35 flights.

This Saturday 29th November , a return to normal is planned, the company announced BFM. All passengers are expected to be transported, but cancellations are potentially expected, particularly for the Caribbean.

Customers affected by cancellations are informed individually by SMS and email.
Air France spokesperson

On the low-cost side, easyJet, which claims to have studied Airbus’ communication, tells us it is preparing for “disruptions” without giving further details.

And elsewhere in the world?

American Airlines told AFP that it had already started updating the navigation software after receiving the notification on Friday.

This company predicts that the intervention will have been carried out on “the vast majority” of the approximately 340 A320 aircraft concerned (it has 480 in total) in its fleet by Saturday. “Some delays” will be due to these adjustments.

After initially ensuring not to be “affected”, its competitor United Airlines finally counted six aircraft affected and said he expected “minor disruptions on a few flights”.

Indigo and Air India, two of India’s major airlines have warned of delays due to the grounding of some aircraft.

As for Delta Air Lines, it expected to have carried out the necessary updates by Saturday morning, on part of its A320 and A321neo.

Some companies are particularly affected. The Colombian Avianca, for example, believes that 70% of its fleet is affected, and foresees “significant disruptions in the next ten days”, she wrote in a press release. Ticket sales are suspended until December 8.

In the Philippines, local airlines Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific had to cancel more than 40 flights and offered refunds and date changes to injured passengers.