Several airlines cancel flights before the premiere of 5G in the United States

Dozens of flights to U.S were canceled or modified this Wednesday around the world to avoid possible problems with the new mobile network 5G released today by the American telecommunications giants Verizon Y AT&T.

Despite the fact that the two companies agreed at the last minute to delay the lighting of towers near some airports, air traffic was penalized by the fear of the airlines that certain instruments they use for navigation would be affected by the new frequencies used by operators.

Emirates, Air India, Lufthansa, British Airways or Japan Airlines, among others, announced cancellations or changes of flights to the United States for this reason.

Some of them had already decided on the modifications before Verizon and AT&T, pressured by US authorities, agreed to postpone the entry into service of some of their towers on Tuesday.

The agreement came after the airline sector warned that the entry into operation of 5G could have “catastrophic” consequences for its operations.

According to airlines, the new frequency bands of 3.7 to 3.8 gigahertz (GHz), the so-called C-band spectrum, which will give networks greater geographical reach and faster signals, may cause many aircraft security systems become “unusable”.

In particular, airlines and aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing are concerned that the new 5G signals could interfere with aircraft radio altimeters, which measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground, as well as the data systems that help the planes to land.

A “negligent” and “irresponsible” episode

In an interview with CNN, Emirates Chairman Tim Clark called the situation one of the most “negligent and absolutely irresponsible” episodes he has seen in his aviation career.

Clark said his company was not aware of some of the potential problems until Tuesday.

“We did not know that the power of the antennas in the United States had doubled compared to what is in other places. We did not know that the antennas themselves had been placed in a vertical position instead of with a slight inclination, “said the executive, who pointed out that this combination compromises not only the radio altimeters but also the flight control systems known as “fly-by-wire”. ”.

As he explained, taking this information into account, Emirates decided late on Tuesday to suspend services to the airports in question until it had more clarity.

a key technology

Although the deployment of similar 5G networks has already been done in other countries without any problem, in the United States the issue has triggered a strong clash between airlines and telecommunications companies, which had received the approval of the authorities to proceed and that they defend that the new frequencies do not interfere with the airplanes.

“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and our nation’s airlines have not been able to fully figure out how to navigate 5G around airports, even though it is secure and fully operational in more than 40 countries,” Verizon said. , the leader in mobile telephony in the United States.

Both this company and its rival AT&T have spent billions of dollars to acquire licenses and deploy this new technology, which offers data transfer speeds much faster than those used until now.

“Americans have been clamoring for 5G and tomorrow we will deliver,” Verizon said in a statement Tuesday confirming the launch of the service.

Verizon expects 90 million people to have access to its 5G network this month in large cities across the country, while AT&T plans to cover up to 75 million users by the end of the year.