More than 14,000 air passengers were affected by widespread flight cancellations and delays on Saturday as Philippine carriers rushed to implement a mandatory software fix for Airbus A320 family jets, which local airlines widely use. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in a statement that Airbus had informed it about the issue.

“These measures may cause short-term disruption to flight schedules and therefore inconvenience to passengers,” EASA said, adding that “safety is paramount.”

Aerospace and defense giant Thales, which manufactures the flight control computer, said the unit is “fully compliant with the technical specifications issued by Airbus” and has been certified by both the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and its US counterpart, the FAA.

But it added: “The functionality in question is supported by software that is not under Thales’ responsibility.”

At a media briefing, acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines (PAL) canceled domestic flights after receiving Airbus’s urgent global advisory early Saturday morning. 

“About 14,000 passengers in total were affected by the cancellations that PAL and Cebu Pacific implemented. We don’t have the final numbers; it’s a running total of who was affected by the delays,” Lopez said. 

“But because of the mitigating measures, we hope that there will be no incremental increases to this and that we can contain the situation so far,” he added.

Of the affected aircraft, Cebu Pacific has updated 19, PAL has updated 11, while AirAsia has completed all required upgrades. 

Repairs triggered disruption

Lopez said the European Aviation Safety Agency’s recommendation was a precautionary step to “guarantee the safety of passengers, crew and flight operations.”

“This is a global occurrence. Globally, the estimate is that 6,000 aircraft were affected. Between and among local airlines Cebu Pacific, PAL and AirAsia, we have 75 aircraft that were affected,” Lopez said.

Airbus transmitted the software advisory at 1 a.m. on Saturday, prompting the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the Civil Aeronautics Board, and the airlines to begin upgrades immediately to minimize passenger inconvenience. 

Each aircraft required about two hours for the update. 

Air Carriers Association of the Philippines (ACAP) Executive Director Josen Perez de Tagle said carriers expected the system upgrade to be completed by noon on Sunday.

“Given this mandatory software update, we want to assure the public that the airlines are doing their best to minimize the effect of the system upgrade,” he said.

The CAB and airlines said all affected passengers were notified and provided assistance, including food, drinks, and medicine at the terminals. Travelers were also offered free rebooking, refunds, and e-vouchers.

The disruption triggered 78 domestic flight cancellations and caused rolling delays. Approximately 14,000 passengers were affected.

Carriers said passengers on affected flights were rebooked or given options for refund or travel credits. 

Wide-body aircraft (A330s, A350s, Boeing 777s) were unaffected and continued normal operations.