Download US airlines warn of ‘chaos’ as telecoms groups roll out 5G | Financial Times

US airlines warn of ‘chaosʼ as telecoms groups roll out 5G | Financial Times
18/01/2022, 05)21
Airlines
US airlines warn of ‘chaos’ as telecoms groups roll out 5G
Aviation lobby says services will cause ‘incalculable’ disruption to passengers and cargo
Airlines are warning 5G services have the potential to interfere with the sensitive equipment that aircraft use to take off and land © Mike
Blake/Reuters
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York, Lauren Fedor in Washington and Steff Chavez
in Chicago YESTERDAY
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The imminent rollout of high-speed 5G telecoms services threatens to ground flights across
the US, America’s largest airlines warned on Monday, as they urged government agencies
to intervene to avoid “chaos” for passengers and “incalculable” disruptions to supply
chains.
“The harm that will result from deployment on January 19 is substantially worse than we
originally anticipated,” warned Airlines for America, an industry lobby group, pointing to
the potential for 5G services to interfere with the sensitive equipment that aircraft use to
take off and land.
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US airlines warn of ‘chaosʼ as telecoms groups roll out 5G | Financial Times
18/01/2022, 05)21
The letter, seen by the Financial Times and first reported by Reuters, was signed by the
largest US carriers as well as the air freight arms of two of the biggest logistics groups, UPS
and FedEx.
The companies called on Joe Biden’s administration to block the rollout of 5G to towers
located within two miles of airport runways that the Federal Aviation Authority has
identified as being prone to disruption.
“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the travelling and shipping
public will essentially be grounded,” the lobby group wrote in its letter to officials including
Brian Deese, the National Economic Council director, and Pete Buttigieg, the
transportation secretary.
United Airlines said Washington’s 5G rollout plan would have “a devastating impact”,
affecting an estimated 1.25m of its passengers and 15,000 flights a year while disrupting an
already fragile supply chain.
“Governments in other countries have successfully designed policies to ensure the safe
deployment of 5G technology and we’re simply asking the US government to do the same,”
United said in a statement. “We implore the Biden administration to act quickly and apply
the same common sense solutions here that have clearly worked so well around the world.”
5G services have been introduced in other countries without sparking the same concern
among airlines. According to the FAA, the services planned in the US differ in several ways,
including operating at frequencies closer to those used by aircraft equipment, and at higher
power levels.
The White House and the transportation department did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. An Airlines for America spokesperson declined to comment.
AT&T and Verizon had planned to launch their 5G services on December 5, but delayed the
launch a month to allow time for safety reviews. The two telecoms groups initially rejected
a subsequent request from regulators to delay their rollout by another two weeks to
January 19, but then agreed to do so.
The planned 5G services use frequencies in the C-band radio spectrum, which can be close
to those used by altimeters that measure an aircraft’s height from the ground and feed
information into navigation instruments and other onboard safety systems.
The FAA has planned buffer zones around 50 airports that have wireless transmitters in
proximity to runways, including in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. However, airlines
maintain that this will not be enough to prevent disruptions.
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US airlines warn of ‘chaosʼ as telecoms groups roll out 5G | Financial Times
18/01/2022, 05)21
The 11 executives who signed Monday’s letter said that the FAA’s latest statement on the
issue had downplayed the threat of disruption and that continuing flight restrictions at
those 50 airports could leave “huge swaths of the operating fleet” grounded indefinitely.
On Sunday, the FAA cleared aircraft using two models of radio altimeters to perform lowvisibility landings at the 88 airports it expected to be most affected by 5G C-band
interference.
The FAA’s clearance of those devices could still leave 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers
affected by cancellations or delays on a typical day, Airlines for America warned, saying
that it had established that flight restrictions would not be limited to poor weather
operations.
The airlines’ warning of “incalculable” effects on passengers, staff and cargo operations
came as the industry has continued to struggle to rebuild its schedules to pre-Covid levels
while dealing with seasonal disruptions from winter storms.
On Monday, FlightAware reported that more than 2,500 US flights had suffered delays,
with more than 1,600 cancellations.
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https://www.ft.com/content/2c46dfe9-7d4e-42a2-95fe-582b29867b4e
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US airlines warn of ‘chaosʼ as telecoms groups roll out 5G | Financial Times
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