Delta Air Lines is replacing power units on more than 300 of its Airbus jets in an effort to stem cases in which toxic fumes have leaked into the air supply and led to health and safety risks for passengers and crew.
… The airline is about 90% of its way through the process of upgrading the engines, a type known as the auxiliary power unit, on each of its Airbus A320 family jets, according to a spokesman for Delta. The airline operates 310 of the narrow-body type, including 76 of the latest generation models as of the end of June.
… Delta hasn’t previously disclosed the APU replacement program, which began in 2022.
Replacing the APU, which can become more prone to fume events with age, mitigates some of the risks from toxic leaks but doesn’t address them entirely. Airbus last year found that most cases on the A320 were linked to leaks entering the APU via an air inlet on the aircraft’s belly.
Another separate cause is leaks in the jet engines themselves, which provide most of the bleed-air supply when active.
An update on this.
Delta Replaces Engine Units in Effort to Address Toxic-Fume Surge on Planes (gift link):