Airlines for America, an association representing North American airlines, urged US authorities for immediate intervention of the scheduled 5G service roll-out on January 19.
The air carriers are asking for 5G “C-band” not to be deployed within two miles from airport runways at affected airports. This will allow 5G roll-out to unhamper the safety of flight operations at these airports.
“Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies,” the airlines said.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier warned that the 5G C-band spectrum could potentially interfere with radio altimeters, the instrument which measures the altitude of an aircraft.
Altimeters operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range, while 5G operate in the 3.7-3.98 GHz range. The main concern is that these frequencies are too close together to fully rule out interference.
Emirates, All Nippon Airways, and Japan Airlines have suspended flights to the US until further notice.
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