Instructions has been directed for Airbus to immediately repair over 6,000 of its A320 family of jets in a recall affecting more than half of the global fleet.
With airline cancellations from the US to South America, Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The fix mainly involves reverting to earlier software and must be carried out before the planes can fly again.
Only three of British Airway’s short-haul aircraft are affected and it does not expect any operational impact while these are undergoing the software updates.
While EasyJet had said it was operating as normal on Saturday as it had already completed the software update on many required aircraft.
A spokesperson for Gatwick airport said a small number of its airlines were affected, while Heathrow said it was not seeing an impact as of late Friday night.
Airbus said in a statement that a recent incident involving an A320-family aircraft had revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.
The incident that triggered the repair action involved a flight from Cancún, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on 30 October, in which several passengers were hurt after a sudden drop in altitude.
The problem was traced to a flight system called ELAC (Elevator and Aileron Computer), which sends commands from the pilot’s side-stick to elevators at the rear. These in turn control the aircraft’s pitch or nose angle.
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