AT&T and Verizon delays rollout of 5G near airports to ensure safety of flights 

Last Monday, January 17, wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon announced they would delay rolling out 5G services in areas within 2 miles of airports. The rest of their 5G networks not located in these areas rolled out as planned last Wednesday, January 19. 

This move was recognized and thanked by the White House, particularly by US President Joe Biden himself. 

According to a statement from Verizon, 

“As the nation’s leading wireless provider, we have voluntarily decided to limit our 5G network around airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and our nation’s airlines have not been able to fully resolve navigating 5G around airports, despite it being safe and fully operational in more than 40 other countries.” 

As for AT&T, 

“At our sole discretion, we have voluntarily agreed to temporarily defer turning on a limited number of towers around certain airport runways as we continue to work with the aviation industry and the FAA to provide further information about our 5G deployment, since they have not utilized the two years they’ve had to responsibly plan for this deployment. We are launching our advanced 5G services everywhere else as planned with the temporary exception of this limited number of towers.” 

Because of these moves, President Biden lauded the wireless carriers. Here’s what he said in a written statement to the companies last Tuesday, January 18: 

“I want to thank Verizon and AT&T for agreeing to delay 5G deployment around key airports and to continue working with the Department of Transportation on safe 5G deployment at this limited set of locations. This agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled. This agreement protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption and will bring more high-speed internet options to millions of Americans. Expanding 5G and promoting competition in internet service are critical priorities of mine, and tomorrow will be a massive step in the right direction. My team has been engaging non-stop with the wireless carriers, airlines, and aviation equipment manufacturers to chart a path forward for 5G deployment and aviation to safely co-exist – and, at my direction, they will continue to do so until we close the remaining gap and reach a permanent, workable solution around these key airports.” 

As discussed in our previous article regarding the 5G rollout, the main issue here was that AT&T and Verizon’s 5G C-Bands, which costed the companies billions of dollars, were supposed to begin and take effect last Wednesday, January 19. However, this initial schedule was postponed because various industry groups like Airlines for America warned that the frequency could interfere with some aircrafts or devices that measure altitude and impact safety in airports. 

This written statement was backed by the CEOs of Delta, American, United, Southwest, FedEx, UPS, and more. 

The letter was sent “with urgency” to the heads of the US Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and the National Economic Council. The airline industry groups’ main request? 

To do whatever action is necessary to ensure that 5G is deployed except when towers are too close to or within 2 miles near airport runways. For the industry groups, this should be the setup until the FAA can determine how the rollout of 5G near airports can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption or interference. 

At present, the FAA is studying the possible impacts of 5G on flights and ordered some Boeing 787 operators to be extra cautious when landing. 

Speaking of Boeing… 

On January 19, 2022, Japan Airlines released a statement regarding the operations of its Boeing 777 aircrafts. 

According to the airline company, it has received a notice from Boeing on January 18, 2022 that 5G signals for US mobile phones may interfere with the radio wave altimeter installed on the Boeing 777. Because of this, Japan Airlines was forced to cancel some of its US-bound flights on January 19. 

Thankfully, the airlines soon received confirmation from the FAA that there was no longer an issue with the operation of the Boeing 777 and the airline was free to resume their operations as they saw fit. So, a day after that, on January 20, Japan Airlines resumed its flights to the US mainland. ANA and Emirates followed the suite and restored their operations to the US airport which they threatened to cancel as a result of this debacle

Major airlines came out with similar statements that they will continue to monitor the situation closely and should there be any negative 5G impact on their operations, they will announce it on their website as promptly as they can. 

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson and US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg requested AT&T and Verizon to push back their 5G rollouts to avoid “unacceptable disruption” to aviation. 

As Buttigieg said, while they recognize the economic importance of expanding 5G and while they appreciate the wireless companies’ efforts to work with them, they need more time to further observe, study, and analyze the system to do their responsibilities of protecting the flying public and the country’s supply chain. 

Meanwhile, the FAA said that they will continue to ensure the public that their travel activities and plans will be safe even as wireless carriers deploy 5G across the country. 

AT&T and Verizon have stood by the safety of their 5G services but have submitted to the request of the FAA and Department of Transportation to avoid further conflicts from arising. 

5G was successfully rolled out in several countries without a similar issue, so the solutions do exist as long as all parties agree to compromise.