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AT&T
will
postpone
deployment
of 5G
service
near
some
airports
after
the
nation's
largest
airlines
said the
service
would
interfere
with
aircraft
technology
and
cause
massive
flight
disruptions. |
|
Airlines
cancel
some
flights
after
reduced
5G
rollout
in US
By JON
GAMBRELL
and
DAVID
KOENIG
apnews.com
DALLAS -
Some
flights
to and
from the
U.S.
were
canceled
on
Wednesday
even
after
AT&T and
Verizon
scaled
back the
rollout
of
high-speed
wireless
service
that
could
interfere
with
aircraft
technology
that
measures
altitude.
International
carriers
that
rely
heavily
on the
wide-body
Boeing
777, and
other
Boeing
aircraft,
canceled
early
flights
or
switched
to
different
planes
following
warnings
from the
Federal
Aviation
Administration
and the
Chicago-based
plane
maker.
Airlines
that fly
only or
mostly
Airbus
jets,
including
Air
France
and
Ireland’s
Aer
Lingus,
seemed
less
affected
by the
new 5G
service.
Airlines
had
canceled
more
than 320
flights
by
Wednesday
evening,
or a
little
over 2%
of the
U.S.
total,
according
to
FlightAware.
That was
far less
disruptive
than
during
the
Christmas
and New
Year’s
travel
season,
when a
peak of
3,200,
or 13%,
of
flights
were
canceled
on Jan.
3 due to
winter
storms
and
workers
out sick
with
COVID-19.
A trade
group
for the
industry,
Airlines
for
America,
said
cancellations
weren’t
as bad
as
feared
because
AT&T and
Verizon
agreed
to
temporarily
reduce
the
rollout
of 5G
near
dozens
of
airports
while
industry
and the
government
work out
a
longer-term
solution.
At
O’Hare
International
Airport
in
Chicago,
Sudeep
Bhabad
said his
father-in-law’s
flight
to India
was
cancelled.
“They
have to
resolve
this
problem,”
Bhabad
said.
“It
would
have
been a
lot
better
if they
had
resolved
it way
before
and we
knew
this in
advance,
instead
of,
like,
finding
out when
we are
here at
the
airport.”
Similar
mobile
networks
have
been
deployed
in more
than
three
dozen
countries,
but
there
are key
differences
in how
the U.S.
networks
are
designed
that
raised
concern
of
potential
problems
for
airlines.
The
Verizon
and AT&T
networks
use a
segment
of the
radio
spectrum
that is
close to
the one
used by
radio
altimeters,
devices
that
measure
the
height
of
aircraft
above
the
ground
to help
pilots
land in
low
visibility.
The
Federal
Communications
Commission,
which
set a
buffer
between
the
frequencies
used by
5G and
altimeters,
said the
wireless
service
posed no
risk to
aviation.
But FAA
officials
saw a
potential
problem,
and the
telecom
companies
agreed
to delay
their
rollout
near
more
than 80
airports
while
the
agency
assesses
which
aircraft
are safe
to fly
near 5G
and
which
will
need new
altimeters.
The FAA
gave
approval
Wednesday
for more
types of
planes
to land
in low
visibility
near 5G
signals,
including
the
Boeing
777. By
evening,
however,
nearly
40% of
the U.S.
airline
fleet
was
still
waiting
to be
cleared.
That
percentage
was
expected
to
shrink
as the
FAA
continued
to
review
other
planes
and
altimeters.
“I
assume
whatever
process
they are
using
could be
used to
clear
the
rest,”
said
Randall
Berry, a
professor
of
electrical
engineering
at
Northwestern
University.
The FAA
says
there
are
several
reasons
why the
5G
rollout
has been
more of
a
challenge
for
airlines
in the
U.S.
than in
other
countries:
Cellular
towers
use a
more
powerful
signal
strength
than
those
elsewhere;
the 5G
network
operates
on a
frequency
closer
to the
one many
altimeters
use, and
cell
tower
antennae
point up
at a
higher
angle. A
telecom
industry
group,
CTIA,
disputes
the
FAA’s
claims.
Emirates
Airline
Boeing
777-300ER
planes
are seen
at Dubai
International
Airport
in
Dubai,
United
Arab
Emirates,
February
15,
2019.
REUTERS/Christopher
Pike/File
Photo
Some
experts
say poor
coordination
and
cooperation
among
federal
agencies
is as
much to
blame as
any
technical
issues.
“The
fights
around
this
from
federal
agencies
have
just
gotten
more and
more
intense,”
said
Harold
Feld, an
expert
on
telecom
policy
at the
advocacy
group
Public
Knowledge.
The
European
Union
Aviation
Safety
Agency
said it
wasn’t
aware of
any
problems
on the
continent
caused
by 5G
interference.
To
mitigate
airline
interference,
French
telecom
providers
reduce
the
strength
of their
high-speed
networks
near
airports.
Boeing
Co. said
in a
statement
it would
work
with
airlines,
the FAA
and
others
to
ensure
that all
planes
can fly
safely
as 5G is
rolled
out.
In the
meantime,
airlines
scrambled
to
adjust
to the
new
reality.
Emirates,
which
relies
heavily
on the
777,
halted
flights
to
several
American
cities
on
Wednesday,
but
maintained
service
to Los
Angeles,
New York
and
Washington.
“We hope
to
resume
our U.S.
services
as soon
as
possible,”
the
state-owned
airline
said.
Tim
Clark,
president
of
Emirates,
told CNN
it was
“one of
the most
delinquent,
utterly
irresponsible”
situations
he’d
ever
seen as
it
involved
a
failure
by
government,
science
and
industry.
Japan’s
All
Nippon
Airways
canceled
20
flights
to
cities
such as
Chicago,
Los
Angeles
and New
York,
while
Japan
Airlines
said
eight of
its
flights
were
affected
Wednesday.
Air
India
said on
Twitter
it would
cancel
flights
to
Chicago,
Newark,
New York
and San
Francisco
because
of the
5G
issue.
But it
also
said it
would
try to
use
other
aircraft
on U.S.
routes —
a course
several
other
airlines
took.
Korean
Air,
Hong
Kong’s
Cathay
Pacific
and
Austrian
Airlines
said
they
substituted
different
planes
for
flights
that
were
scheduled
to use
777s.
Germany’s
Lufthansa
swapped
out one
kind of
747 for
another
on some
U.S.-bound
flights.
American
Airlines
Chief
Operating
Officer
David
Seymour
said in
a memo
to staff
that the
carrier
canceled
four
flights
while it
awaited
FAA
approval
of
equipment
on its
Airbus
aircraft.
Choi
Jong-yun,
a
spokeswoman
of
Asiana
Airlines,
which
uses
Airbus
planes
for
flights
to the
U.S.,
said it
hadn’t
been
affected
so far.
FCC
Chairwoman
Jessica
Rosenworcel
said in
a
statement
that the
5G
“deployment
can
safely
co-exist
with
aviation
technologies
in the
United
States,
just as
it does
in other
countries
around
the
world.”
However,
she
urged
the FAA
to
conduct
its
safety
checks
with
“both
care and
speed.”
___
Gambrell
reported
from
Dubai.
Associated
Press
video
journalist
Teresa
Crawford
in
Chicago
and AP
writers
Kim
Tong-hyung
in
Seoul,
South
Korea,
Yuri
Kageyama
in
Tokyo,
Ken
Moritsugu
in
Beijing,
David
McHugh
in
Frankfurt,
Germany,
Frank
Jordans
in
Berlin,
Angela
Charlton
in
Paris,
Kelvin
Chan in
London,
Tali
Arbel in
New York
and
Isabel
DeBre in
Dubai
contributed
to this
report.
___
Follow
Jon
Gambrell
on
Twitter
at
www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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