American Airline planes sit on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. The photo was taken by STEFANI REYNOLDS.
America's largest airlines urged government agencies to intervene to avoid "chaos" for passengers and "incalculable" disruptions to supply chains, as they warned on Monday that the imminent roll out of high-speed 5G telecoms services threatens to ground flights across the US.
Airlines for America warned that the harm that will result from the deployment on January 19 is worse than they had thought.
The largest US carriers and air freight arms of two of the biggest logistics groups signed a letter that was seen by the Financial Times.
The Federal Aviation Authority has identified two miles of airport runways as being prone to disruption if 5G is not blocked.
The lobby group wrote a letter to officials including Brian Deese, the National Economic Council director, and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, saying that unless major hubs are cleared to fly, the majority of the traveling and shipping public will be grounded.
The 5G plan would have a devastating impact on United Airlines, affecting an estimated 1.25 million of its passengers and 15,000 flights a year, while disrupting an already fragile supply chain.
The US government is being asked to design policies to ensure the safe deployment of 5G technology by United. We implore the Biden administration to act quickly and apply the same common sense solutions that have worked so well around the world.
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The introduction of 5G services in other countries has not caused the same concern among airlines. The services planned in the US differ in several ways, including operating at frequencies closer to those used by aircraft equipment, and at higher power levels.
The White House and transportation department did not respond to the request for comment. An Airlines for America spokesman wouldn't comment.
The launch of AT&T and Verizon's 5G services was delayed a month to allow for safety reviews. The two groups initially refused the request from the regulators to delay their roll out, but then agreed to do so.
The 5G services will use frequencies in the C-band radio spectrum, which can be close to those used by altimeters that measure an aircraft's height from the ground and feed information into navigation instruments and other onboard safety systems.
The FAA has planned buffer zones around 50 airports that have wireless transmitters, including in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Airlines say that this won't be enough to prevent disruptions.
The 11 executives who signed Monday's letter said that the FAA's latest statement on the issue had downplayed the threat of disruption and that continuing flight restrictions at those 50 airports could leave " huge swaths of the operating fleet" grounded indefinitely.
On Sunday, the FAA cleared aircraft using two models of radio altimeters to perform low-visibility landings at the airports it expected to be most affected by 5G C-band interference.
Airlines for America warned that the FAA clearance of those devices could leave 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers affected by cancellation or delays on a typical day.
The industry has continued to struggle to rebuild its schedules to pre-covid levels while dealing with seasonal disruptions from winter storms, as the airlines warned of "incalculable" effects on passengers, staff and cargo operations.
More than 2,500 US flights had been delayed or canceled on Monday.
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