In a statement Monday, the FAA said it “will continue to keep the traveling public safe as wireless companies deploy 5G” and “continues to work with the aviation industry and wireless companies to try and limit 5G-related flight delays and cancellations.” The airline industry executives argued that “immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies.”Īfter the airlines’ latest protests, AT&T said Tuesday it would postpone its new wireless service near some airports but did not say at how many or where. Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swaths of the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded.” The airline executives contended that if the 5G technology is used, “Multiple modern safety systems on aircraft will be deemed unusable. The mobile companies said they would reduce power at 5G transmitters near airports, but the airlines have asked that the 5G technology not be activated within 3.2 kilometers of 50 major airports. While the Federal Aviation Administration previously said it would not object to deployment of the 5G technology because the mobile carriers said they would address safety concerns, the airline executives said aircraft manufacturers have subsequently warned them that the Verizon and AT&T measures were not sufficient to allay safety concerns. In a letter Monday to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, chief executives at Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and seven other passenger and cargo carriers protested the mobile carriers’ plan to roll out their upgraded service on Wednesday. Verizon and AT&T won contracts worth tens of billions of dollars last February to operate 5G in the 3.7-3.98 GHz frequency bands, and the rollout of the service was due to begin December 5.FILE - A passenger uses a laptop aboard a commercial airline flight from Boston to Atlanta on July 1, 2017.ĪT&T and Verizon argue that their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics and that the technology is being safely used in many other countries. "The FAA continues to work with the aviation industry and wireless companies to try to limit 5G-related flight delays and cancellations." "With safety as its core mission, the FAA will continue to ensure that the traveling public is safe as wireless companies deploy 5G," the agency said. The FAA released a brief statement Monday apparently seeking to allay concerns about the 5G rollout's impact on aviation, but it stopped short of declaring any concrete next steps in the process. "Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies," they wrote. The letter was signed by CEOs of major airlines including American, United, Delta and Southwest, as well as the leaders of shipping giants FedEx and UPS. The executives called on authorities to "take whatever action necessary to ensure that 5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption." airlines also have protested against the potential costs incurred. In addition to the transport secretary, their letter was addressed to the head of the FAA, the head of the Federal Communications Commission and the White House's National Economic Council.
In a statement, United Airlines said, "The federal government's current 5G rollout plan will have a devastating impact on aviation, negatively affecting an estimated 1.25 million United passengers, at least 15,000 flights and much-needed goods and tons of cargo traveling through more than 40 of the largest airports in the country annually."
The Reuters news agency reports that carriers late on Monday were thinking of scrapping some international flights due to get to the U.S. "In addition to the chaos caused domestically," the letter continues, the lack of certified planes "could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas." The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday it had approved some transponders to be safely operated within areas where 5G will be deployed, clearing "as many as 48 of the 88 airports most directly affected by 5G C-Band interference."īut the airlines are worried that remaining limitations at those airports, as well as a large amount of equipment still uncertified, could trigger a crisis including the grounding of thousands of flights.
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