U.S. Airlines Avoid Major Impact From Airbus ELAC Issue

Manufacturer says less than 100 out of about 6,000 potentially impacted aircraft still require modifications.

Jack Daleo

Monday, December 01, 2025 at 01:48 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Regulators required modifications to certain Airbus aircraft after an A320 operating JetBlue Flight 1230 suffered a possible software vulnerability. [Credit: JetBlue Airways]

Key Takeaways:

A recent altitude-loss event on an Airbus A320 prompted emergency airworthiness directives from EASA and the FAA, requiring modifications to the elevator aileron computer (ELAC) system on hundreds of A319, A320, and A321 models.
U.S. airlines largely completed the mandated ELAC modifications with minimal major disruptions to operations, though JetBlue initially faced more significant groundings.
Separately, Airbus also identified and contained a quality issue affecting metal panels on a limited number of A320-family aircraft, attributing the problem to an unnamed partner.

See a mistake? Contact us.

U.S. airlines appear to have avoided major disruptions after the FAA required emergency modifications to about 545 Airbus A319, A320, and A321 models.

Airbus on Friday said that after an A320 altitude-loss event in October, a preliminary analysis found that “intense solar radiation” may have caused a malfunction of the aircraft’s elevator aileron computer (ELAC) system, which uses pilot commands to control elevators and ailerons. That prompted the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and FAA to issue emergency airworthiness directives (EADs) grounding certain A319, A320, and A321 models until carriers completed ELAC modifications.