Wizz Air

At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured after an A320 aircraft suddenly dropped in altitude and was forced to make an emergency landing

Some air travel across the United Kingdom will be disrupted over the coming days as several airlines carry out software updates on some Airbus 320 aircrafts, an aviation agency said.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued the instruction on Friday, November 29, as a “precautionary action”, impacting travel across the UK.

The Associated Press news agency reported that at least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured in last month after an A320 aircraft suddenly dropped in altitude and was forced to make an emergency landing in Florida. The plane had experienced a “flight control issue” which could be linked to its software system, AP reported.

“The requirement will mean the airlines flying these aircraft will in some cases have to change software over the days ahead or remain on the ground from Sunday onwards until the software has been changed,” EASA, the main certifying authority for the A320 aircraft, said.

“This action is likely to mean that unfortunately there may be some disruption and cancellations to flights.”

Several UK airlines have these aircrafts in their fleet and could be impacted.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the impact on UK airlines should remain “limited”.

“The good news is it seems the impact on UK airlines seems limited, with a smaller number of aircraft requiring more complex software and hardware changes,” Alexander said.

Low-cost airline Wizz Air warned that their passengers may face disruption over the weekend as a result of the update. The airline said it has already immediately scheduled the necessary maintenance to ensure full compliance with the identified mitigation and as a result, some flights will be affected over the weekend.

The UK’s EasyJet said in a statement that there may be changes to their flying schedule as a result of the update and passengers will be informed.

Three British Airways aircrafts require the update, limiting any significant disruption to passengers.

Irish airline Aer Lingus said it was not expecting major operational disruption due to the limited number of its aircrafts impacted.

Jet2.com also said will be no impact to its flying programme as the software updates were on a small number of aircrafts.

“We have been made aware of an issue that may affect some of the A320 family of aircraft and the precautionary action that EASA has taken,” said Giancarlo Buono, director of Aviation Safety at the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

“We appreciate the disruption this may cause to some people flying over the coming days… Airlines have a duty of care to look after passengers when a flight is delayed,” Buono added.

Gatwick Airport also warned passengers may face some disruption over the coming days, but a spokesperson for the airport said the software update will only impact a small number of airlines at the airport.

Both Heathrow and Luton Airports are expected to run their flying schedule as normal.

Budget airline Wizz Air plans to reduce the number of flights from Gatwick Airport, instead shifting its fleet to Luton, due to operating costs and ‘inferior slots’

Budget airline Wizz Air is set to cut the number of flights it operates from Gatwick Airport.

József Váradi, chief executive of Hungarian firm Wizz Air, said his airline is losing money in its operations at the UK’s second busiest airport. The carrier is instead set to shift towards operating more flights out of Luton due to lower costs.

This process will start with Wizz Air moving a single plane from Gatwick to Luton, Mr Váradi said. This will kickstart an “ongoing process” to slowly shift the fleet.

This follows the closure of an Abu Dhabi-based offshoot of Wizz Air, announced in July, as well as the scrapping of its base in Vienna due to “airport costs and taxes”.

Mr Váradi told The Telegraph: “Gatwick is expensive and we have been operating an inferior set of slots there. We think that we can enhance financial performance by operating that capacity from Luton.”

“Circumstances change and you have to take action. Whichever bases give you the most profitability, you should be biased toward them. That includes moving aircraft over from Gatwick to Luton.”

Mr Váradi added that the airline doesn’t plan on leaving Gatwick entirely, but instead aims to “optimise” its base there. He added: “You have to churn your network for profit. We are simply more efficient financially in Luton.”

This comes after Wizz Air revealed ‘Wizz Class’, which will allow passengers to pay extra to sit on a row with an unoccupied middle seat – giving them a little extra room in the process.

Other perks include priority boarding, a carry-on bag allowance and guaranteed space in overhead bins. The airline said Wizz Class is “designed to meet the demand of travellers seeking more space, comfort and a quicker exit from the aircraft”.

Commercial officer Silvia Mosquera said: “The roll-out of Wizz Class follows feedback from our growing number of business travellers who value low-cost travel options and prefer additional space during the flight.”

The new seating option will appear on selected flights departing from London, Rome, Warsaw, Bucharest and Budapest in December.