In preparation of a 5G wireless rollout in America, many international airlines have decided to reschedule or cancel flights to the United States ahead of the rollout set to take place on Wednesday 19 January. Primarily due to safety concerns.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned that this 5G wireless rollout could interfere with height readings, readings which play a key role in bad-weather landings on particular jets. With the Boeing 777 among the models affected.
On Tuesday 18th January, the FAA updated their guidance on which airports and aircraft models would be impacted by the roll out, attempting to lessen the impact on scheduled routes.
Although AT&T and Verizon, a mobile operator rolling out 5G, stated that they would pause the rollout near airports, many airlines still opted to cancel or switch aircraft models. With Airline Industry sources reporting that this announcement had arrived too late for flights scheduled on Wednesday.
Airlines such as Dubai’s Emirates stated that they would suspend flights to nine US locations from January 19th, the expected date of the 5g wireless services rollout. With Emirate’s flights set for New York’s JFK, Los Angeles and Washington DC continuing to operate on a different aircraft.
British Airways also opted to switch aircraft on its daily flight to Los Angeles from the usual Boeing 777 to an Airbus A380.
