PARIS – Shares in Airbus fell more than 10% on Monday in Paris following media reports that quality problems with fuselage panels had delayed delivery of some of its top-selling A320 aircraft. 

Shares in the company were down 10.24% at around 1200 GMT, while the Paris market was showing a small drop. 

It subsequently recovered some of the losses . The reports of the new problem came after a separate incident in which Airbus last week said some 6 000 of its A320 planes should not fly again until a software upgrade was made following an incident in the United States. 

The announcement initially raised concerns that hundreds of planes would need to be grounded for long periods, but Airbus said Monday that fewer than 100 planes remained immobilised. 

On 30 October, a JetBlue-ope r at ed A320 aircraft encountered an in-flight control issue due to a computer malfunction apparently caused by solar radiation affecting the equipment. 

The plane suddenly nosedived as it was travelling between Cancun, Mexico, and Newark , United States, and the pilots had to land in Tampa, Florida. Analysts at Deutsche Bank said that Airbus had not updated its aircraft delivery guidance for this year, suggesting the impact of the software update was still being evaluated or had been contained. Produced since 1988, the A320 is the world’s best-selling aeroplane. 

Airbus sold 12 257 of the aircraft by the end of September compared with the sale of 12 254 Boeing 737s. “Airbus confirms it has identified a supplier quality issue affecting a limited number of A320 metal panels,” a spokeswoman for the company told AFP, confirming earlier media reports. 

“Airbus is taking a conservative approach and is inspecting all aircraft potentially impacted, knowing that only a portion of them will need further action to be taken. 

The source of the issue has been identified, contained and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements.” 

– Nampa/AFP