Dozens of airlines said they had carried out snap software retrofits ordered by Airbus after a vulnerability to solar flares emerged.

Airbus has cut its full-year delivery target to 790 commercial aircraft, down from the original figure of 820. The airframer - which had already been dealing with substantial backloading - acknowledges that a "supplier quality issue" on A320neo fuselage panels is "impacting" the delivery flow.

Airbus' stock shares declined after the European aeospace manufacturer announced a recall of its A320 planes for a software update after a jet's incident.

Airbus says it has already fixed “the vast majority” of the planes affected by a potentially serious flight control issue.