DGCA issues safety directive for Airbus A318, A319, A320 & A321 aircraft, orders grounding

India’s aviation regulator has ordered the immediate halt of flights operated by the Airbus A320 family until airlines complete mandatory safety modifications under European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) directives. The comprehensive move, issued on Saturday, covers the Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 fleet, and requires operators to park aircraft until scheduled checks and repairs are completed.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its notification said: “Inspection and/or modification on the following subject is mandatory. Please make necessary modification in the list of mandatory modifications mentioned below. This is to ensure that no person operates the product falling within the scope of application of this mandatory modification except those who are in compliance with the requirements of the mandatory modification(s)/ applicable airworthiness directive(s…”

The order comes on the heels of Airbus’s global technical directive issued earlier this week, which prompted Indian carriers Air India and IndiGo to withdraw aircraft from service and rework timelines for urgent software and hardware upgrades.

What triggered the directive

The safety alert stems from an incident on October 30, 2025 involving a JetBlue A320 traveling from Cancun to Newark. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the plane “unexpectedly banked to the bottom without pilot intervention.” “The crash landing likely occurred while the ELAC switch was being changed,” he said, referring to the electronic flight control computer that oversees elevator and aileron operations. The plane diverted to Tampa, where a number of passengers were taken to the hospital.

Airbus later determined that intense solar radiation could corrupt flight control data on some A320 family aircraft. Working with regulators, it issued an immediate global alert. The European Aviation Safety Agency said the defect, if left uncorrected, could lead to uncontrolled movement in the elevator.

Impact on Indian airlines

Extreme solar radiation has prompted Airbus to issue a global safety alert, forcing IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express to brace for widespread flight disruptions across the country. The advisory, linked to a potential data corruption in critical flight control systems of the A320 family aircraft, could lead to the grounding of as many as 200 to 250 aircraft in India, according to officials quoted by PTI.

This alert stems from Airbus’ analysis of a recent incident involving an A320 overseas in which the aircraft “briefly descended” due to a suspected elevator airfoil computer (ELAC) malfunction. Shortly after, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive, ordering airlines to install serviceable ELAC units before the next flight of any affected aircraft.

India operates nearly 560 A320 family aircraft, the backbone of its domestic aviation network, meaning nearly half of them may need software or hardware intervention. Airlines are preparing for schedule disruptions as engineers conduct inspections and reset the system.