The FAA said it has cleared 62 percent of US commercial airplanes to perform low-visibility landings at airports where 5G is being deployed.
Several international airlines canceled flights to the US after Boeing told them not to fly the 777 into airports with 5G on the C-band. The FAA's new list of cleared aircraft included the 777 planes, which are capable of filtering out C-band transmissions. The FAA has granted alternate means of compliance to operators with safe altimeters.
Some airplane models have one of the five cleared altimeters. The FAA said that these airplanes can perform low-visibility landings at airports where 5G C-band is used. Some of the planes with model numbers have an approved altimeter.
The FAA said on Sunday that it had cleared 45 percent of the US commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings at many of the airports where 5G C-band will be deployed. The first round of approvals included Boeing, 757, 767, and MD-10/-11 models as well as the A320, A321, A330, and A350 models.
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The flights were canceled.
The Associated Press reported today that airlines that canceled flights to the US include British Airways. Some airlines switched to different aircraft on flights that were originally scheduled to use the Boeing 777.
Air France said it would keep flying its planes into American airports. The AP wrote that it did not explain why it didn't change its aircraft.
Major US airlines sent a letter to US government officials on Monday warning of "catastrophic disruption" to air travel and asked for a ban on C-band deployment within two miles of airport runways. Additional limits were agreed to by AT&T and Verizon.
Boeing is warning.
The C-band frequencies between 3.7 GHz and 3.8 GHz are where AT&T and Verizon are going to deploy 5G. The carriers spent a combined $69 billion on licenses to use spectrum between 3.7 GHz and 3.98 GHz, and they plan to use the upper part of those frequencies in the future.
The spectrum from 4.2 GHz to 4.4 GHz is used for the radio altimeters. While US carriers point out that 5G on the C-band has been deployed without problems in nearly 40 countries, the FAA and airlines say that some altimeters may not be able to filter out 5G transmissions.
Boeing sent a multi-operator message to carriers on Monday night, telling them not to fly the 747-8s on approach and landing to the US unless there is an alternative means of compliance.
When contacted by Ars today, Boeing declined to comment. The FAA confirmed that 62 percent of planes have been cleared.
The FAA agreed not to seek any more 5G delays from AT&T and Verizon.
The FAA said on January 14 that 5G interference with the aircraft's radio altimeter could prevent engine and braking systems from transitioning to landing mode, which could prevent an aircraft from stopping on the runway. The January 14 statement said that the FAA will require operators of Boeing 787s to take additional precautions when landing on wet or snowy runways. The updated list of planes that are authorized to perform low-visibility landings at airports where 5G C-band is deployed did not include the 787.
The FAA's recent statements on 5G and altimeters can be found here.
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