Emirates has announced flights to nine US airports in Boston, Chicago, O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle. John F. of New York. It said it would continue to fly at Kennedy Airport, Los Angeles Airport and Washington Dallas.
Air India has announced that it will suspend services between Delhi Airport and San Francisco, Chicago and JFK. It will also stop the Newark flight from Mumbai.
Both ANA and Japan Airlines said they had canceled some flights to the United States that were scheduled to use Boeing 777s, but instead operated some flights using Boeing 787s.
Traffic controllers were already concerned that the 5G version, scheduled for launch in January, could interfere with some aircraft equipment, and many aviation groups shared that fear – despite assurances from federal telecommunications regulators and wireless carriers.
In particular, the Federal Aviation Administration is concerned that 5G cellular antennas near certain airports – not mobile passengers’ mobile devices – may throw away the readings of some aircraft equipment designed to tell pilots how far they are from the ground. Those systems, called radar altimeters, are used throughout an aircraft, and are considered important equipment. (Radar altimeters differ from standard altimeters in that they rely on barometric measurements and do not use radio signals to measure altitude.)
“We are frustrated with the FAA’s inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, that is, we use 5G technology safely without interrupting airlines, and we urge you to do it in a timely manner,” said AT&T spokeswoman Megan Getter. .
In a letter on Tuesday, CEOs of 10 airlines asked Biden’s management to postpone the already delayed release. Airlines estimate 1,000 disruptions per day due to potential interference with radar altimeters used by pilots to land in low visibility. The Department of Telecommunications did not comment on the letter, but said the fear was unfounded as there were no problems in other countries where 5G had already been used.