Jakarta. Indonesia has grounded 38 Airbus A320 aircraft to comply with a safety directive issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) over risks of a potential software malfunction, the country’s senior aviation regulator said on Saturday.

The aircraft will remain out of service until the required software update is installed, Director General of Civil Aviation Lukman Laisa confirmed. The grounding is expected to disrupt flight schedules ahead of the year-end holiday travel peak.

EASA -- the primary certification authority for Airbus -- issued an emergency directive on Friday ordering all operators of the Airbus A320 family worldwide to replace or modify a specific Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC B L104) before the next flight. The notice followed an alert from Airbus issued the same day.

Indonesia currently has 207 A320-family aircraft, 143 of which are in regular operation across six domestic carriers: Batik Air, Super Air Jet, Citilink Indonesia, Indonesia AirAsia, Pelita Air, and TransNusa. Of those, 38 aircraft are affected by the directive, Lukman said.

“This directive could potentially affect flight operations due to the high number of A320 aircraft operating in Indonesia and globally,” Lukman told reporters.

The civil aviation authority has advised passengers traveling between November 30 and December 4 to check with their airlines for possible cancellations or schedule changes.

Lukman said the software replacement could take up to five days per aircraft, and urged operators to make contingency plans given the high passenger volume during the holiday season.

The EASA action is linked to an incident involving a JetBlue A320 on October 30. According to aviation publication AeroTime, the aircraft experienced an inflight upset that crew described as a flight-control problem while cruising at FL350 about 70 nautical miles southwest of Tampa, Florida. The aircraft descended rapidly to 20,000 feet and later diverted for a precautionary landing in Tampa.

Airbus’s preliminary assessment pointed to a possible malfunction of the ELAC unit as a contributing factor. Regulators warn that if the issue remains unresolved, the malfunction could cause uncommanded elevator movement severe enough to risk exceeding the aircraft’s structural limits, AeroTime reported.

EASA has designated all A319, A320 and A321 aircraft equipped with the affected ELAC as “Group 1,” requiring operators to replace the computer with a serviceable version — ELAC B L103 or higher — before returning them to commercial service. Aircraft not fitted with the affected hardware must not be retrofitted back to the older standard.

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