"#FlyAI: Due to deployment of 5G
communications in USA, our operations to USA from India stand curtailed/revised
with change in aircraft type from January 19, 2022. Update in this regard will
be informed shortly," said a tweet from Air India.
United Airlines said the US government's
current 5G rollout plan will have a devastating impact on aviation, negatively
affecting an estimated 1.25 million United passengers, at least 15,000 flights
and much-needed goods and tons of cargo traveling through more than 40 of the
largest airports in the country annually.
When deployed next to runways, the 5G
signals could interfere with the key safety equipment that pilots rely on to
take off and land in inclement weather, the airlines said in a statement.
#FlyAI: Due to deployment of 5G communications in USA, our operations to USA from India stand curtailed/revised with change in aircraft type from 19th January 2022.
— Air India (@airindiain) January 18, 2022
Update in this regard will be informed shortly.
"We won't compromise on safety - full
stop. But, 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.
Otherwise, the radio altimeters on certain
aircraft, which provide information to other safety systems like autopilot,
heads-up displays, terrain warning, and pitch control, will be compromised and
will result in significant restrictions on 787s, 777s, 737s and regional
aircraft in major cities like Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Chicago."
"Unfortunately, this will result in
not only hundreds of thousands of flight cancellations and disruptions for
customers across the industry in 2022, but also the suspension of cargo flights
into these locations, causing a negative ripple-effect on an already fragile
supply chain.
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," it said.