European aerospace giant Airbus on Friday ordered an immediate software change on a significant number of its A320 family of jets following an incident last month.

Airbus said in a statement that a recent incident revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.

The incident that appears to have brought the issue to light involved a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey, on October 30, according to Reuters.

That flight made an emergency landing at Tampa, Florida, and several people were taken to hospital after a flight control problem and a sudden uncommanded drop in altitude.

Airbus says action may lead to delays over busy travel weekend

"Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted," the company said.

"Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers," the statement added.

Industry sources said the scale of the operation is expected to cause significant disruption to its entire fleet of A320 jets, that encompasses some 6,000 jets.

Hundreds of jets may also have to have hardware changed that could take weeks.

The disruption comes as millions of Americans travel on airlines for the Thanksgiving holiday period.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko