Airlines in the US have called for further restrictions on 5G networks around airports, amid concerns the use of new C-band spectrum for the mobile services may disrupt plane altimeter readings. The chief executives of major passenger and cargo airlines warned in a letter to top US officials that there could be significant flight disruptions when the new 5G services go live 19 January, unless implementation of the wireless service within 2 miles of major airport runways is delayed.
The CEOs of top cargo and passenger airlines signed the letter sent to several government officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration head Steve Dickson, the Wall Street Journal reports. The executives asked that officials "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".
AT&T and Verizon already agreed to delay the roll-out from December in order to give the FAA and airlines more time to prepare. The mobile industry has refuted the safety concerns, saying their 5G systems are not a cause of interference for planes.
AT&T and Verizon did agree to limit their cell towers’ signals in buffer zones around some of the largest US airports to address the FAA’s concerns. The cellphone carriers also paused the 5G activations until 19 January, while the FAA worked to tailor its flight restrictions to protect aircraft from possible interference from the new wireless signals.
The FAA said that it had cleared an estimated 45 percent of the US commercial fleet to land in low-visibility conditions at 48 of the 88 airports most directly affected by potential 5G interference, and more approvals are expected in the coming days. However, even with these new approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected, the regulator said.
Airline executives in recent days became concerned about the potential for disruptions as they realized that several major hubs would likely still be subject to FAA flight restrictions, according to the letter. They held a call with transport secretary Buttigieg on 16 January, people familiar with the discussion said.
The airline United estimated 15,000 flights this year could be canceled, delayed or diverted, with the disruption touching major cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Newark.
Airline executives said the restrictions wouldn’t be limited to difficult weather conditions and cautioned that the FAA’s precautionary measures could render some aircraft types unusable. In their letter, the executives said that they had been told by manufacturers that “huge swaths of the operating fleet may need to be indefinitely grounded” because of concerns about other safety and navigation systems that rely on data from radio altimeters.
