International airlines suspend some US flights due to 5G problem

Emirates, Air India, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines all announced cuts over the issue.

Emirates said it would suspend flights to nine US 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 Airport and Washington Dulles.

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

Air India said it would suspend service between Delhi Airport and San Francisco, Chicago and JFK. It will also suspend a flight from Mumbai to Newark.

Both ANA and Japan Airlines said they have canceled a number of flights to the US that were planned to use Boeing 777 aircraft, but will instead operate a number of flights using Boeing 787s.

Transportation regulators already feared that the version of 5G scheduled to be enabled in January could disrupt some aircraft instruments, and many airline industry groups shared those fears — despite reassurances from federal telecom regulators and wireless carriers.

The Federal Aviation Administration was particularly concerned that 5G antennas near some airports — not air travelers’ mobile devices — could interfere with the readings of some aircraft equipment designed to tell pilots how far they are from the ground. . Those systems, also known as radar altimeters, are used during a flight and are considered critical equipment. (Radar altimeters are different from standard altimeters, which rely on barometric pressure readings and do not use radio signals to measure altitude.)

The FAA had already issued an urgent order in December banning pilots from using potentially affected altimeters around airports where poor visibility would otherwise require them. That new rule could prevent planes from going to some airports in certain circumstances, because pilots wouldn’t be able to land with instruments alone.

AT&T, which owns DailyExpertNews’s parent company, and Verizon both announced Tuesday that they would delay the activation of 5G on some towers around certain airports. The rollout of the 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 deploy 5G technology safely without disrupting airline services, and we urge it to do so in a timely manner,” he said. Megan Ketterer, an AT&T spokesperson. .

The Biden administration welcomed the delay, saying in a statement that the “agreement will prevent potentially devastating disruptions to passenger traffic, freight operations and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployments to proceed as planned.”

In a Tuesday letter, CEOs of 10 airlines told the Biden administration to push back the already delayed rollout. Airlines estimate 1,000 flight disruptions per day due to possible interference with radar altimeters pilots use to land in poor visibility. The telecom industry has not responded to the letter, but says the fears are unfounded, as there have been no problems in other countries where 5G is already being deployed.