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| Contract workers for Verizon update a cell tower to handle the new 5G network in Orem, Utah, in December 2019. Photo: TNS |
The airlines warned the new C-Band 5G
service could potentially make a significant number of widebody aircraft
unusable and “could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans
overseas”.
“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly,
the vast majority of the travelling and shipping public will essentially be
grounded,” wrote the chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines,
United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and others.
The FAA has warned that potential
interference could affect sensitive instruments such as altimeters and affect
low-visibility operations.
“This means that on a day like yesterday,
more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to
cancellations, diversions or delays,” it cautioned.
Action is urgent, they added in the letter
also signed by UPS Airlines, Atlas Air, JetBlue Airways and FedEx Express. “To
be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt.”
The letter, which was seen by Reuters, went
to White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, Transportation
Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator
Steve Dickson and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica
Rosenworcel.
Airlines for America, the group that
organised the letter, declined to comment. The government agencies did not
immediately comment.
AT&T and Verizon, which won nearly all
of the C-Band spectrum in an US$80 billion auction last year, on January 3
agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks and take
other steps to cut potential interference for six months. They also agreed to
delay deployment for two weeks until Wednesday, temporarily averting an
aviation safety stand-off.
The CEOs of major airlines and Boeing Chief
Executive Dave Calhoun held a lengthy call with Buttigieg and Dickson on Sunday
to warn of the looming crisis, officials said. The airlines ask “that 5G be
implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles
[3.2km] of airport runways” at some key airports.
“Immediate intervention is needed to avoid
significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain
and delivery of needed medical supplies.”
The airlines added that flight restrictions
will not be limited to poor weather operations. “Multiple modern safety systems
on aircraft will be deemed unusable causing a much larger problem than what we
knew … Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swathes of
the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded.”
The carriers added they urge action to
ensure “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”.
The FAA said on Sunday it had cleared an
estimated 45 per cent of the US commercial aeroplane fleet to perform
low-visibility landings at many airports where 5G C-band will be deployed
starting on Wednesday. The airlines noted on Monday that the list did not
include many large airports.