US airlines warn rollout of 5G networks could cause major disruption
Donald Trump appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr issued a statement Wednesday blaming the Biden administration for the chaotic rollout of Verizon and AT&T’s 5G wireless, which caused several airlines to cancel or delay flights in and into the US over fears that the technology would disrupt aircraft instruments.
“This is a clear failure of leadership. At any point in time, the White House could have stood up and sided with the science. They didn’t,” Mr Carr said.
Major international airlines have begun cancelling flights to the United States after the Federal Aviation Administration raised concerns about 5G wireless towers near airports.
Emirates, Air India, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways announced it would suspend flights after the Airlines for America trade group pressured the Biden administration over “catastrophic disruption” due to the scheduled 19 January rollout.
Emirates suspended flights into nine airports, including Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas Fort Worth, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle. It said it would continue flying into New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, the Los Angeles airport and Washington Dulles. Sir Tim Clark, the airline’s president, called the US government and the wireless companies “delinquent” and “irresponsible” for creating the conditions that allowed for the chaos to occur.
Wireless telecom giants AT&T and Verizon announced the activation of 5G towers near some US airports would be delayed for two weeks to resolve the differences.
The high-speed 5G internet uses so-called C-band frequencies close to those used by aircraft to measure their altitude, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warning potential interference could affect sensitive aeroplane instruments such as altimeters and significantly hamper low-visibility operations.
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