Low-cost carrier Wizz Air confirmed on 29 November that it has completed an overnight firmware update on its Airbus A320 family fleet, ending a week of precautionary groundings that had affected services to and from Belgium. The carrier told The Brussels Times that all flights—including the heavily booked Charleroi–Budapest, Charleroi–Cluj and Brussels Airport–Pristina rotations—are now operating on time after Airbus cleared the patched software.
The update follows an Airbus directive issued on 28 November, after engineers discovered that exposure to intense solar radiation could corrupt a flight-control module on older A320 variants. Approximately 6,000 aircraft worldwide required a quick turn-round patch. Wizz Air temporarily wet-leased capacity and offered free re-booking to minimise disruption but still cancelled five departures from Charleroi between 27 and 29 November, stranding an estimated 900 passengers.
![Wizz Air software fix restores full schedule—including Brussels Charleroi routes]()
For Belgian business travellers—many of whom rely on Wizz Air’s Central- and Eastern-European network to reach factories and shared-service centres—the return to normal operations removes an unexpected year-end bottleneck. Mobility teams that had diverted passengers via Vienna or Frankfurt can now revert to direct routings, saving both time and hotel costs.
Aviation analysts note that the incident highlights how highly consolidated maintenance supply chains have become. Although the fix was software-based, Wizz Air’s COO Diarmuid Ó Conghaile said the carrier will review contingency planning and may keep a spare aircraft on standby at Charleroi during the busy Christmas period.
Travellers should still reconfirm departure times 24 hours before flying, as timetable tweaks made during the grounding period will only be gradually reversed.
The update follows an Airbus directive issued on 28 November, after engineers discovered that exposure to intense solar radiation could corrupt a flight-control module on older A320 variants. Approximately 6,000 aircraft worldwide required a quick turn-round patch. Wizz Air temporarily wet-leased capacity and offered free re-booking to minimise disruption but still cancelled five departures from Charleroi between 27 and 29 November, stranding an estimated 900 passengers.
For Belgian business travellers—many of whom rely on Wizz Air’s Central- and Eastern-European network to reach factories and shared-service centres—the return to normal operations removes an unexpected year-end bottleneck. Mobility teams that had diverted passengers via Vienna or Frankfurt can now revert to direct routings, saving both time and hotel costs.
Aviation analysts note that the incident highlights how highly consolidated maintenance supply chains have become. Although the fix was software-based, Wizz Air’s COO Diarmuid Ó Conghaile said the carrier will review contingency planning and may keep a spare aircraft on standby at Charleroi during the busy Christmas period.
Travellers should still reconfirm departure times 24 hours before flying, as timetable tweaks made during the grounding period will only be gradually reversed.
