PARIS ¨C This week, Airbus got a brutal reminder that even the world¡¯s most-delivered jet ¡ª the A320 ¡ª isn¡¯t immune to shocks as disparate as solar flares and flawed metal.
Days after recalling 6,000 A320-series planes over a software glitch linked to cosmic radiation, the European giant was forced to slash delivery targets when defects surfaced in some of their fuselage panels.
The twin setbacks ¡ª one rooted in astrophysics, the other in basic metallurgy ¡ª underscore how fragile success can be for a planemaker that dominates the busiest corner of aviation and is on track to outpace Boeing for a seventh straight year.
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