5G technology: Airlines suspend some US flights due to distribution issues

admin January 19, 2022

11 2 minutes read

5G technology: Airlines suspend some US flights due to distribution issues

Emirates, Air India, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and Lufthansa all announced service cuts, citing the problem.

Emirates said it would suspend flights to nine U.S. airports: Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas Fort Worth, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle. It said it would continue to fly to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, Los Angeles International and Washington Dulles.

“We are working closely with aircraft manufacturers and relevant authorities to alleviate operational concerns, and we hope to resume our US services as soon as possible,”[ads1]; Emirates said in a statement.

Air India said it would halt service between Delhi and San Francisco, Chicago and JFK. It will also suspend a flight from Mumbai to Newark. It will continue to fly into Washington Dulles.

Both ANA and Japan Airlines said they were canceling some flights to the United States that were planned to use Boeing 777 aircraft, but will operate some flights with Boeing 787s instead.

Germany’s Lufthansa canceled a flight between Frankfurt and Miami. It said it would replace Boeing 747-8s with 747-400s on flights from Frankfurt to Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.

Delta Air Lines (FROM) said it was planning for the possibility of weather-related cancellations as early as Wednesday due to the new 5G service near dozens of US airports.

Transport regulators had already been concerned that the version of 5G that was planned to be switched on could interfere with some aircraft instruments, and many aviation industry groups shared this fear – despite assurances from federal telecom regulators and wireless operators.

Specifically, the Federal Aviation Administration has been concerned that 5G mobile antennas near some airports – not airline passengers’ mobile devices – could throw readings from any aircraft equipment designed to tell pilots how far from the ground. These systems, known as radar altimeters, are used during a flight and are considered critical equipment. (Radar altimeters differ from standard altimeters, which rely on air pressure readings and do not use radio signals to measure altitude.)

AT&T, Verizon delays launch of 5G near some airports after airlines ask Biden to intervene

In December, the FAA issued an urgent order banning pilots from using the potentially affected altimeters around airports where poor visibility would otherwise require them. The new rule could prevent planes from arriving at some airports in certain circumstances, because pilots would not be able to land with instruments alone.

AT&T, which owns CNN’s parent company, and Verizon both announced Tuesday that they would postpone the activation of 5G on some towers around certain airports. The rollout of wireless technology near major airports was scheduled for Wednesday.

“We are frustrated by the FAA’s inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it to do so in a timely manner,” said Megan Ketterer, a spokeswoman for AT&T,.

The Biden administration welcomed the delay, saying in a statement that “the agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90% of the deployment of wireless towers to take place as planned.”

Airlines also praised the move.

“While this is a positive development to prevent widespread disruption of aircraft operations, there may still be some flight restrictions,” Delta said in a statement.

In a Tuesday letter, CEOs of 10 airlines asked the Biden administration to push back the already delayed rollout. Airlines estimate 1000 flight interruptions per day due to possible interference with radar altimeters used by pilots to land in poor visibility conditions. The telecom industry has not commented on the letter, but has said that the fear is unfounded since there have been no problems in other countries where 5G has already been distributed.

– Brian Fung, Jackie Wattles and Chris Liakos contributed to this article.

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