Major US airlines sent a letter to the White House National Economic Council, the FAA, and the FCC on Monday, saying that the new C-Band 5G technology could cause chaos and lead to widespread delays of passenger and cargo flights.
The CEOs of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, UPS Airlines, Alaska Air, Atlas Air, JetBlue Airways, and FedEx wrote a statement saying that unless major hubs are cleared to fly, most of the traveling public will be grounded. More than 1,100 flights could be canceled, diverted, or delayed, stranding over 100,000 passengers, and airlines have called for immediate intervention.
The FAA claims that interference from the C-Band 5G could affect airplane altimeters. The airlines want the FAA to restrict C-Band 5G in a two mile area around airport runways, because they say the buffer zones around 50 major airports are not enough.
The letter states that the FAA has not cleared some airports that are used by most of the traveling and shipping public, which will cause significant delays when the C-band spectrum goes live tomorrow.
We respectfully request you to support and take whatever action is necessary to ensure that 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 and FCC objected to the deployment of the C-Band spectrum by AT&T and Verizon, but have since relented. The two companies agreed to delay the roll out until January 19 to give airlines more time to prepare.
The two carriers paid billions of dollars for the C-Band spectrum to bolster their 5G networks, and have ensured customers that improvements are coming soon. The two carriers are reluctant to agree to further delays, as they are unwilling to expand 5G Ultra Wideband technology to more than 1,700 cities.
The FAA said that it will ensure that the traveling public is safe as wireless companies deploy 5G. The FAA is working with the aviation industry and wireless companies to try to limit 5G-related flight delays.
The aviation industry's concerns led to the voluntary delay of turning on a limited number of 5G towers. The FAA has had time to prepare, and AT&T said it is frustrated by the lack of action.
We are frustrated by the FAA's inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it to do so in a timely manner.
The C-Band spectrum will begin rolling out on January 19 but areas around some airport runways will not be activated at this time to avoid signal interference.
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