Dec. 1 (UPI) — Airbus’ stock shares declined on Monday after the European aerospace manufacturer announced a recall of its A320 planes for a software update because of a sudden drop in altitude of a JetBlue plane in late October.
Paris-listed shares of Airbus were down 5.81% on the European Stoxx 600 index to $192.58 after the closing bell on Monday. The stock was $160.14 at the start of the year, up 32%.
Airbus’ stock dropped 2.42% to $56.35 over-the-counter in the United States at 2 p.m. EST, and is up 40.41% year to date.
Airbus market capitalization is $183.4 billion, ahead of rival U.S.-based Boeing’s $143.7 billion.
Airbus’ A320, which seats 140 to 170 passengers, recently surpassed the Boeing 737 as the most delivered jetliner in history. The model first entered service in 1988 with Air France, and the family includes A318, A319 and A321.
The recall was the largest in the 55-year history of Airbus, CNBC reported.
The Airbus A320-232 jet made an emergency landing in Tampa, Fla., Oct. 30. It was headed to Newark, N.J., from Cancun, Mexico. At least 15 passengers were hospitalized.
On Friday, Airbus said an analysis revealed intense solar radiation can corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on the A320 aircraft. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced a requirement to address the issue, and the Federal Aviation Administration issued its own order, requiring U.S. airlines to complete work by 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
“This condition, if not corrected, could lead in the worst-case scenario to an uncommanded elevator movement that may result in exceeding the aircraft’s structural capability,” the European directive said.
On Monday, Airbus apologized for delays caused to passengers and airlines, including during heavy Thanksgiving travel.
“The company thanks its customers, the authorities, its employees and all relevant stakeholders involved for their support in implementing these measures, and for their understanding of Airbus’ decision to put safety above all other considerations,” the company said.
Airbus said the vast majority of the roughly 6,000 A320 aircraft over the weekend had received the necessary modifications.
“We are working with our airline customers to support the modification of less than 100 remaining aircraft to ensure they can be returned to service,” the company said.
Service in Asia was heavily affected because the A320 planes are used for short-haul flights.
American Airlines, the world’s largest A320 operator, said 340 of its 480 model planes needed the software update, taking two hours per plane.
Delta Airlines said a small portion of the Airbus 320 planes were affected.
Colombian carrier Avianca said the recall affected more than 70% of its fleet, causing it to halt ticket sales for travel dates through Dec. 8.
The French defense firm Thales, which supplied the flight system software to Airbus, were down about 2%.
Airbus planes are assembled in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, German; Tianjin, China; and Mobile, Ala.
Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard told Barrons that Airbus production could be impacted by production quality issues related to A320 issues.
On the Jet Blue flight, the autopilot remained engaged, though there was a “brief and limited loss of altitude, and the rest of the flight was uneventful,” reads the emergency airworthiness directive from ESAS. “Preliminary technical assessment done by Airbus identified a malfunction of the affected ELAC as possible contributing factor.”
ELAC is short for Elevator Aileron Computer.
Airbus said Friday “that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.”
In September, researchers said the sun would be going through an unexpected active stage, Gizmodo reported.
Space weather expert Tony Phillips posited earlier this month that giant sunspots were producing solar flares “for weeks” and there “no reason to think this activity will subside.”