The imminent rollout of high-speed 5G telecoms services could ground flights across the US, America’s largest airlines warned on Monday, as they urged government agencies to intervene to avoid “chaos” for passengers and “incalculable” disruptions to supply chains.
“The harm that will result from deployment on January 19 is substantially worse than we originally anticipated,” Airlines for America, an industry lobby group, warned on Monday.
Its letter, signed by America’s largest carriers as well as UPS Airlines and FedEx Express, pointed to the potential for 5G services to interfere with the sensitive equipment which aircraft use to take off and land.
They called on President Joe Biden’s administration to block the rollout of 5G at towers located about two miles from airport runways that the Federal Aviation Administration has identified as being prone to disruption.
“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the travelling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,” the lobby group wrote to officials including Brian Deese, the National Economic Council director, and Pete Buttigieg, the transport secretary.
The White House and the transport department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters first reported on the warning from major US carriers.
AT&T and Verizon had planned to launch their 5G services on December 5, but delayed the launch by a month to allow time for safety reviews. The two telecoms groups initially rejected a request from regulators to delay their rollout by another two weeks to January 19, but then agreed to do so.