At least 300 flight from and to United States of America canceled due to interruption of high-speed communication signal service 5G.
The flight suspension came after the US Federal Aviation Administration warned of potential technical problems with aircraft flights due to 5G signal services.
Companies Verizon and AT&T are installing high-speed wireless services for the new 5G technology. However, their new technology is suspected to interfere with the technical flight of the aircraft, especially about measuring altitude.
More than 300 flights from several airlines were canceled as of Wednesday (19/1) night. That number represents 5 percent of total US flights, according to FlightAware.
Most of the disrupted flights use wide-body Boeing 77s and other Boeings.
Emirates airline, which relies heavily on Boeing 777 aircraft, suspended some of their flights in several US cities on Wednesday (19/1). However, the airline still opens services to Los Angeles, New York, and Washington using other aircraft.
“We hope to be able to provide our services in the US as soon as possible,” the airline said Associated Press.
Emirates President Tim Clark described the disruption as one of the most abusive and irresponsible situations that have arisen due to the failure of government, science and the telecommunications industry.
Japanese airline All Nippon Airways also canceled 20 of their flights to Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Meanwhile, Japan Airlines said eight of their flights were disrupted on Wednesday (19/1).
Air India also said it would cancel flights to Chicago, Newark, New York and San Francisco because of these 5G issues, in a Twitter statement. However, they will try to use another type of aircraft to travel to the US.
Korean Air, Cathay Pacific and Austrian Airlines said they were switching flights from Boeing 777s to other types of aircraft.
At O’Hare International airport in Chicago, Sudeep Bhabad, said his father-in-law’s plane was cancelled.
“They have to solve this problem,” Bhabad told Associated Press.
“It would have been better if they had resolved this issue earlier and we had known this in advance, rather than knowing it while we were at the airport.”
Meanwhile, flights using Airbus aircraft, such as Air France and Aer Lingus from Ireland, are not affected by this 5G service.
5G mobile networks have been used in dozens of countries. However, the 5G network in the US raises concerns about problems for airlines.
US telecommunications networks Verizon and AT&T use a segment of the radio spectrum that is similar to that used by radio altimeters, a device that measures the altitude of an airplane above the ground and often helps pilots land in low visibility.
The US Federal Communications Commission said the buffering between frequencies used by 5G networks did not pose a risk to airlines.
However, US Federal Aviation Administration officials see potential aviation problems 5G services pose.
US telecommunications companies have agreed to delay the rollout of their 5G services in areas close to more than 80 US airports.
(pwn / rds)
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