The world’s two largest planemakers, Boeing and Airbus, have called on the US government to delay the rollout of new 5G cell services next month, citing an “enormous negative impact on the aviation industry.”
In a joint letter to US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the bosses of the two companies warned that “5G interference could adversely affect the ability of aircraft to safely operate.”
The industry giants claimed that some 345,000 passenger flights and another 5,400 cargo flights would have faced delays or outright cancellations had the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed its 5G rule in 2019, pointing to research by Airlines for America, a lobbying organization.
According to a new rule, announced by the FAA earlier this month, pilots are forbidden from using auto-landing and other certain flight systems at low altitudes where 5G wireless signals could interfere with onboard instruments that measure a plane’s distance to the ground.
The new rule comes as US telecom giants AT&T and Verizon are due to deploy 5G services on January 5.
Last week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that the FAA’s 5G directives would bar the use of radio altitude meters at about 40 of America’s biggest airports.
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