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Airbus said Friday that an examination of the JetBlue incident revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on the A320 family of aircraft.

The FAA joined the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in requiring airlines to address the issue with a new software update. More than 500 U.S.-registered aircraft will be impacted.

The EU safety agency said it may cause “short-term disruption” to flight schedules. The problem was introduced by a software update to the plane’s onboard computers, according to the agency.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury apologized to customers after the required fix led to “significant logistical challenges and delays.”

“Our teams are working around the clock to support our operators and ensure these updates are deployed as swiftly as possible to get planes back in the sky and resume normal operations, with the safety assurance you expect from Airbus,” he wrote in a message posted on LinkedIn on Saturday.

Thanksgiving disruptions in US

In Japan, All Nippon Airways, which operates more than 30 planes, canceled 65 domestic flights for Saturday. Additional cancellations on Sunday were possible, it said.

The software change comes as U.S. passengers were beginning to head home from the Thanksgiving holiday, which is the busiest travel time in the country.

American Airlines has about 480 planes from the A320 family, of which 209 are affected. The fix should take about two hours for many aircraft and updates should be completed for the overwhelming majority on Friday, the airline said.

On Saturday, the airline said in a statement that only four planes still needed to be updated and that it “expects no further operational impact.”

Air India said on X that its engineers were working on the fix and completed the reset on more 40% of aircraft that need it. There were no cancellations, it said.

Delta said it expected the issue to affect less than 50 of its A321neo aircraft. United said six planes in its fleet are affected and it expects minor disruptions to a few flights. Hawaiian Airlines said it was unaffected.

Pope’s plane also needs a software fix

Pope Leo XIV is on his inaugural foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon, and is flying along with the papal delegation and press corps aboard an ITA Airways Airbus A320neo charter.

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Saturday that ITA was working on the issue. He said the necessary component to update the aircraft was on its way to Istanbul along with the technician to install it. Leo was scheduled to fly from Istanbul, Turkey to Beirut, Lebanon on Sunday afternoon.

European flights return to normal

In France, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the situation has stabilized as several software updates had already been installed. He told BFM-TV that the impact was limited in the country with an “almost complete return to normal in French airports.”

In the U.K., disruption also was minimal. British Airways, for example, said only three of its aircraft required the update, while EasyJet indicated there may be changes to its flying schedule as a result of the update, in which case passengers will be informed.

Germany’s Lufthansa said most software updates were completed during the night and on Saturday morning. No Lufthansa Group Airlines flights are expected to be canceled due to the current situation, but there may be minor delays over the weekend, it said.

Scandinavia’s SAS said its flights were operating as normal Saturday, after teams worked overnight to install the required software.

Mike Stengel, a partner with the aerospace industry management consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the fix could be addressed between flights or on overnight plane checks.

“Definitely not ideal for this to be happening on a very ubiquitous aircraft on a busy holiday weekend,” Stengel said from Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Although again the silver lining being that it only should take a few hours to update the software.”

At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to the hospital after the Oct. 30 incident on board the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.

Airbus, which is registered in the Netherlands but has its main headquarters in France, is one of the world’s biggest airplane manufacturers, alongside Boeing.

The A320 is the primary competitor to Boeing’s 737, Stengel said. Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s, and planes in this category are called A320neo, he said.

The A320 is the world’s bestselling single-aisle aircraft family, according to Airbus’ website.

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Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Samuel Petrequin, Pan Pylas in London and Nicole Winfield in Istanbul contributed to this report.

US retail sales on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, climbed 4.1% compared with last year, according to data released Saturday by Mastercard SpendingPulse. Online shoppers alone spent $11.8 billion, up 9.1% from 2024, according to data collection platform Adobe Analytics.

But those gains don’t account for higher prices due to inflation, so actual spending could be flat.

“We have 3% inflation, so maybe (the 4.1% increase in spending) is a real increase of just 1% or so, which is not that much of an increase,” Rick Newman, who writes The Pinpoint Press, a newsletter on the US economy, told CNN on Friday.

There’s also a bifurcation in who’s spending. The Federal Reserve’s most recent Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes about the economy, showed consumer spending among low- and middle-income consumers is on the decline. Meanwhile, the Fed found high-end consumers are continuing to spend — including on luxury items and travel.

Consumers have bought fewer items this holiday season, but the average selling prices are higher, according to Claudia Lombana, a national consumer expert.

“The ones that have higher income are spending at will, but those who are less affluent are budgeting,” Lombana told CNN’s Omar Jimenez on Saturday.

It’s part of the so-called K-shaped economy, in which higher earners get a boost from their stock market investments and home valuations and use their fatter paychecks to spend. But lower earners increasingly live paycheck to paycheck and look for discounts — or curtail their spending to cope with rising prices.

“The story of the economy right now is it’s a bifurcated economy. If you’re lucky enough to own stocks and own a home, you’re part of the upper slant of that cave, that K-shaped economy … you’re going to be comfortable spending a fair amount of money this year,” Newman said.

But Newman added that people on the lower slant of the K — those who don’t own stocks or a home — are increasingly worried about job security.

“I think those people are going to be pinching pennies this holiday season,” he said, adding that they will be more frugal with gift purchases and necessities. Heating bills, for instance, are higher because of natural gas prices going up. And grocery prices are on the rise, while rent hikes outpace income growth, he noted.

Eighty-five percent of consumers expect higher prices because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to the National Retail Federation, or NRF. And it’s a factor in how they shop.

“Nobody is sort of going on an item-by-item basis and saying, ‘Oh, the Trump tariffs have pushed up costs here by 4% or 10%,’ but it’s on people’s minds,” Newman said.

Value is more important than ever these days for consumers. Consumer sentiment is glum, job growth has slowed, and the federal government shutdown forced low-income shoppers to pull back spending amid a pause in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding.

As goods and services become harder for everyday Americans to afford, shoppers have grown pickier about how they spend their money and hunt for deals. They are gravitating toward retailers they feel can help them stretch their dollars further on groceries, household essentials, clothing and electronics.

Chains such as Walmart, TJ Maxx, Gap and others are benefiting, reporting strong sales during their latest quarters. Walmart is now gaining market share against competitors across all income groups and in several merchandise categories.

But others, such as Target and Bath & Body Works, are struggling.

And people are splurging less on gifts for themselves, according to Bath & Body Works.

Shoppers are expected to continue to splash out this holiday season, despite the cost-of-living squeeze and other economic pressures. The NRF expects retail sales in November and December to grow 3.7% to 4.2% compared with a year ago. That growth would be similar to last year’s rise.

The NRF projects a record $1 trillion in holiday spending this year, up from $976 billion last year.

Spending growth on apparel grew 6.1% online and 5.4% in-store on Black Friday, with Mastercard suggesting that “shoppers refreshed wardrobes while leaning into value-driven choices and convenience.” Consumers spent a record $6.4 billion online on Thanksgiving, up 5.3% from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, as big deals drew them to shop online.

“The magnitude of discounts was the big story on Thanksgiving yesterday, as retailers leaned into delivering great deals to drive consumer demand online,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe, said in a statement Friday.

Meanwhile, “buy now, pay later” continues to be an important payment option for consumers this holiday season. Adobe forecasts $20.2 billion will be spent through the payment method from November 1 to December 31, an 11% uptick over 2024.

“We saw half the people in America already shopping by Halloween this year for the holiday period,” said Lombana. “Of course, this five-day period from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday is significant for retailers, both online and in store. We are expecting to see Cyber Monday deliver strong.”

She noted that “consumers are definitely being more cautious, but during the holidays, they also want to engage in the holiday spirit.”