US airlines warn of ‘catastrophic disruption’ on Wednesday due to 5G activation

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https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/18/22889141/us-airlines-united-american-delta-5g-c-band-disruption-radar-altimeter

CEOs from major US airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines have warned that the impending deployment of new 5G spectrum on Wednesday could cause “catastrophic disruption” for flights across the country starting tomorrow. The warning, which was also signed by shipping companies including UPS Airlines and FedEx Express, was issued in a letter from the CEOs seen by Reuters, which said that both commercial and cargo flights could be affected.

The letter was sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, and White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, Reuters reports.

“Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swaths of the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded” as a result of the new 5G deployments, the airlines wrote in their letter. “Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies,” that could cause “chaos” and strand “tens of thousands of Americans overseas.”
“When deployed next to runways, the 5G signals could interfere with the key safety equipment that pilots rely on to take off and land in inclement weather,” United Airlines said in its own statement sent to The Verge. Without more safeguards, the rollout of this 5G spectrum could “result in significant restrictions on 787s, 777s, 737s and regional aircraft in major cities” and cause “hundreds of thousands of flight cancellations and disruptions for customers across the industry in 2022, [and] also the suspension of cargo flights into these locations.”