Airlines including British Airways, Air India, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic have cancelled a number of US-bound flights as the rollout of 5G mobile in the US triggered safety concerns across the aviation industry.
Emirates said that it is suspending nine flights to major US cities including Boston, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco until further notice.
The are fears among airlines that the activation of the C-band strand of mobile phone services near US airports on Wednesday could disrupt the navigation systems on planes.
The radio altimeter on Boeing 777s are thought to be particularly at risk of being affected.
British Airways which cancelled a “handful” of flights to destinations including New York, San Francisco and Boston, said: “Safety is always our priority and although we had to cancel a handful of services, we’ve done everything we can to minimise inconvenience for our customers.
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“We’ve changed the aircraft operating some of our flights and rebooked those on cancelled services on to alternatives.”
“It would be a catastrophic failure of government,” Kirby told reporters.
On Tuesday, Verizon and AT&T temporarily agreed not to turn on 5G wireless services near some airport runways, to give airlines more time to figure out how to bypass any potential disruptions to flight operations caused by the next-generation network.
US president Joe Biden thanked Verizon and AT&T yesterday and said that the agreement “protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption.”
