The Agency has warned that, in extreme cases, it could lead to structural failure during flight, and operators must make modifications to 39 planes of recent production years within a defined period of time.
The error only affects the -200 and -800 variants of the A330 Family. Airbus did not complete a cold forming process on the tail section of 36 A330-200 and three A330-800 planes produced between 2017 and 2020.
"This condition, if not corrected, could endanger the structural integrity of the aircraft and lead to catastrophic failure," warns EASA.
However, the risk is not immediate. According to the European regulator, the error must be fixed according to Airbus guidelines within a certain window - for A330-800 planes used for long-haul flights between 13,000 and 20,200 flight cycles, and for A330-200 planes, no earlier than 13,000 flight cycles.
