The two wireless carriers told Insider on Saturday that they are reviewing a request from the transportation secretary to delay the roll out of 5G on airplanes.
The Federal Aviation Administration and Buttigieg sent a letter to AT&T and Verizon on Friday asking for a two-week delay to assess potential interference to aircraft electronics.
The implementation of 5G service could cause "widespread and unacceptable disruption," including rerouting airplanes to locations where landings may not be safe, according to a letter written by Buttigieg and Dickson.
The representatives for AT&T and Verizon Communications both told Insider that they are in the process of reviewing the letter.
The airlines should look at their track record over the past two weeks if they are concerned about flight cancellation related to 5G. The industry which got a $54 billion taxpayer-funded, government bail out over the past couple years has a lot of bigger issues to worry about.
The FAA and Buttigieg sent a letter on Friday about the travel delays and cancelations caused by the Omicron coronaviruses variant. According to FlightAware, 20,000 flights have been canceled since Christmas Eve.
The CEOs of Boeing and Airbus wrote to Buttigieg last month asking him to delay the roll out of 5G wireless service on aircraft due to safety concerns from the FAA.
The letter said that 5G interference could affect the ability of aircraft to operate safely. 5G could have an "enormous negative impact" on the aviation industry according to the CEOs of Boeing and Airbus.
The FAA and other members of the airline industry voiced concerns about the service's potential to interfere with airplane altimeters, a device used to measure aircraft altitude.
A Boeing spokesman told Insider last month that the industry is focused on evaluating the potential for 5G interference with radio altimeters. We are working with aviation authorities, government leaders, airlines, and industry groups to ensure the continued operational safety of aircraft throughout the aviation system worldwide.
The wireless industry argued that the power levels are too low to cause disruptions and pointed to the success of the roll out in other countries.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that a spokesman for the wireless industry group CTIA said that the aviation industry's fearmongering relies on completely discredited information and deliberate distortions of fact.
