Aussie budget airline Jetstar is one of several carriers around the world being impacted by a major GPS glitch causing long delays for travellers.
A number of Jetstar’s Airbus planes suffered a fault in their navigation system just days after the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a warning about solar flare activity.
Pilots on affected planes received a message ‘requiring the (GPS) system to be reset before the flight departs’.
The glitch sparked delays for flights to Bali, Fiji and Hobart from airports on ‘s east coast on Thursday.
There was no safety concern for passengers, a Jetstar spokesperson said.
‘Engineers have inspected the aircraft and have determined the multiple aircraft GPS systems continue to operate and transmit signals,’ they told Daily Mail .
‘At no time has there been any impact to safety as a result of this issue. There has been minimal impact to our operation and we thank our customers for their patience if they have experienced any delays while engineers conduct system resets.’
The Jetstar planes fleets affected include the new Airbus A320 Neos and A321 Neos. No other Qantas Group aircraft types were impacted and Virgin has confirmed their planes were unaffected.
The GPS fault follows a NASA warning about solar flares – a burst of radiation from the sun that can knock out satellites and communications.
Aviation expert Richard de Crespigny said solar flares could affect computers.
‘The Earth is having bad weather at the moment. Every 11 years the sun’s magnetic field flips,’ the expert said.
‘It causes pimples on the face of the sun, radiation, and it’s (a) very high intensity and it overcomes or jams the GPS signals that come to Earth.
‘The GPS inputs to about 16 different systems on the aeroplane, even the clock. GPS requirements are higher in an aircraft than a car.’
On May 20, the NOAA issued a warning about solar flare activity saying it ‘can cause interference for sensitive receivers including radar, GPS, and satellite communications’.
A solar storm is a sudden explosion of particles, energy, magnetic fields, and material blasted into the solar system by the sun.
‘When directed toward Earth, a solar storm can create a major disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field, called a geomagnetic storm, that can produce effects such as radio blackouts, power outages, and beautiful auroras,’ NASA said.