Finnair announced on Saturday morning (30 November 2025) that it has finished installing emergency software patches on 12 Airbus A320-family aircraft overnight, less than 24 hours after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a binding air-worthiness directive.
The directive was triggered by a global Airbus alert on Friday, citing a vulnerability in flight-control computers that could cause data corruption under extreme solar-radiation conditions. While no Finnair flights experienced the in-flight upset that prompted the alert, the carrier faced the prospect of grounding part of its short-haul fleet at 01:59 EET on Sunday if the update was not applied.
![Finnair Completes Urgent Airbus Software Fixes Ahead of EASA Deadline]()
Finnair’s technical services team mobilised extra engineers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Friday evening. Working in three shifts, they uploaded the revised software, performed system re-boots, and ran acceptance tests on each aircraft before returning them to service. A handful of evening departures were delayed by up to 45 minutes, but the airline says its Saturday schedule is operating normally again.
For corporate travel managers, the incident is a timely reminder of the operational resilience benefits of choosing a home-carrier hub: Finnair had spare capacity and in-house engineering capability to keep disruption to a minimum. However, companies with tight Monday-morning itineraries are being urged to reconfirm bookings, as other European airlines may still be working through the same mandatory updates.
Looking ahead, Finnair expects no knock-on cancellations, but it will keep one narrow-body on standby for the next 48 hours. Travellers connecting onward on Oneworld partners should check whether their onward operator flies affected Airbus types and build extra time into layovers.
The directive was triggered by a global Airbus alert on Friday, citing a vulnerability in flight-control computers that could cause data corruption under extreme solar-radiation conditions. While no Finnair flights experienced the in-flight upset that prompted the alert, the carrier faced the prospect of grounding part of its short-haul fleet at 01:59 EET on Sunday if the update was not applied.
Finnair’s technical services team mobilised extra engineers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Friday evening. Working in three shifts, they uploaded the revised software, performed system re-boots, and ran acceptance tests on each aircraft before returning them to service. A handful of evening departures were delayed by up to 45 minutes, but the airline says its Saturday schedule is operating normally again.
For corporate travel managers, the incident is a timely reminder of the operational resilience benefits of choosing a home-carrier hub: Finnair had spare capacity and in-house engineering capability to keep disruption to a minimum. However, companies with tight Monday-morning itineraries are being urged to reconfirm bookings, as other European airlines may still be working through the same mandatory updates.
Looking ahead, Finnair expects no knock-on cancellations, but it will keep one narrow-body on standby for the next 48 hours. Travellers connecting onward on Oneworld partners should check whether their onward operator flies affected Airbus types and build extra time into layovers.
