If you're booked on a Porter, KLM Cityhopper, Luxair, Binter or Azul flight in the next few days, check your itinerary before leaving for the airport. A GPS failure affecting the global fleet of Embraer E190-E2 and E195-E2 jets has forced airlines on several continents to cancel flights, and the disruption isn't over yet.

The problem was first spotted by Brazil's Azul Linhas Aéreas, which promptly grounded all 43 aircraft in its fleet — including two that were airborne at the time. Embraer has opened a crisis room with avionics supplier Honeywell, whose Primus Epic 2.0 navigation system sits at the centre of the fault. Around 200 of these jets fly with 24 airlines worldwide, so the ripple effect is broad: Porter Airlines in Canada cancelled a string of E2 departures, Virgin Australia did the same, and European carriers including KLM, Binter and Luxair followed.

So what's actually broken? The Primus Epic 2.0 is a sophisticated suite that packs widebody-style tech into a regional jet — interactive maps pilots can manipulate with a trackball, 3D synthetic vision that renders terrain and runways in zero visibility, and weather radar that scans storm cells at multiple altitudes. When the GPS reception fails mid-operation, the workaround is crude: engineers pull the main circuit breakers to force the electronics bays into a cold restart, like rebooting a frozen computer. Embraer's technical bulletin confirms a reset restores the signal, but the fault can recur, and there's no permanent patch yet. Many airlines have decided grounding the aircraft is safer than repeatedly resetting mid-service.

Honeywell engineers will need to issue a software fix that maintenance crews can download and install — until then, cancellations and delays are likely to keep piling up at busy hubs in Canada, Brazil and Europe. Some E2s are still flying, according to Flightradar24, and not every operator on the list has confirmed grounding. Royal Jordanian and Mongolia's Hunnu Air, for instance, haven't stated their position.

Fleet size tells you where the pain is concentrated. Porter operates 52 of the affected jets, Azul 43, KLM Cityhopper 25 and Mexicana de Aviación 20, with Luxair at 6. LATAM Brasil and GOL have the type only on order, so they're unaffected. In Brazil, Azul's grounding is already creating bottlenecks at airports across the country, and carriers are urging passengers to verify flights before travelling.

For holidaymakers, the practical takeaway is simple: if your regional connection is operated on an Embraer E2, expect possible same-day cancellations and build buffer time into any tight connections. Rebookable fares and travel insurance are suddenly more valuable than usual, and airline apps or Flightradar24 can tell you whether your aircraft is one of the jets still in the air. Once Honeywell ships a permanent software patch, service should normalise quickly — but until that lands, anyone flying these routes should stay alert to schedule changes.

Story via Simple Flying.