Airline passengers booked to fly on the Airbus A320 aircrafts are facing long delays while urgent modifications are made to a piece of equipment susceptible to “intense solar radiation”. A total of 6,500 of the twin-jets are believed to be affected, with many airlines impacted, causing widespread disruption across Europe, Asia and Australasia. Britain's three biggest A320 operators – British Airways, easyJet and Wizz Air – say their operations are unaffected. The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder explains all you need to know.

Europe's Airbus said it was ordering an immediate software change on a significant number of its best-selling A320-family jets.

About 6,000 plans are thought to be affected, about half the European aerospace giant's global fleet.