Delta Makes Airbus Change

Delta is making a change to its Airbus fleet, with the airline set to replace the auxiliary power units, also commonly referred to as APUs.

The replacement, which will occur across Airbus aircraft, was broken by The Wall Street Journal following a series of incidents that have led to brain injuries for crew and passengers.

With more than 300 aircraft undergoing replacements, the airline is 90% of the way through the process, as reported by the publication, representing a significant overhaul for the U.S. carrier to remove the hidden hazard.

The reporting follows years of the airline facing requests from flight attendants to address the issue, and this is also pushed to unions, who have alerted those higher up to the dangers and experiences with the toxins that are released.

For Delta, the A320 program is front and centre, with the Wall Street Journal’s investigation saying this most commonly occurs across this type of narrowbody family.

The A320 family has a significant presence in the airline’s daily operations, with 57 A319-100s, followed by 48 A320-200s, and its largest reliance comes from the A321 series.

Delta has 210 Airbus A321 family members to its name, which is reflected in 127 A321-200s, the current engine option averaging 6.8 years of age, followed by 83 delivered A321neos averaging just 1.9 years.

As a result, while the Boeing 737 is present in day-to-day operations with 240 units, the Airbus single-aisle fleet is equally important for serving short to medium-haul markets, meaning this is something that must be addressed.

Understanding The Delta Changes

For Delta, the changes that have been taking place over recent years follow an incident where severe smoke filled the cabin of an aircraft mid-flight, necessitating an emergency landing.

Incident reports, driven by the governing regulator of the FAA, which were found to have occurred frequently, raised alarm bells. Additionally, toxins entering the cabin were a concern that must be prevented at all costs.

Dr Robert Harrison, an occupational medicine specialist for the University of California, in San Francisco, says he has treated over 100 crew members for such toxic exposure; those crews are pushing for action to be taken to remedy the problems.

While the problems being remedied by Delta are occurring, they’re not limited to just the U.S. carrier with fumes, a challenge that has been a continued issue for airlines across recent times.

Moving forward, as Delta continues to work on resolving the issue, which has primarily affected the Airbus A320 family, it will also attempt to implement new studies to limit the possibility of fumes entering the cabin in the future.