US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday that there could be some flight delays or cancellations starting July 1 if the last remaining passenger jets do not upgrade their altimeters to deal with the interference. 5G, every single report from The Wall Street Journal report. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains that 5G C-band signals could interfere with the radio wave emitters used by passenger jets to measure how far they are from the ground, which pilots rely on when landing with little sight.
Although airlines are not required to get the new equipment until February 2024, passenger jets that have not been certified for operation around C-band 5G signals by the first of July will not be allowed to land in some low-visibility situations.
Most of the US domestic airline fleet is prepared, with more than 80 percent of planes upgraded, but about 65 percent of international jets that fly to the US still need to be repaired. Global airline group the International Air Transport Association said WSJ that carriers will do their best to avoid disruptions, and that they favor aircraft with the required altimeter for US flights. Air India says all its planes are well-equipped.
Overall, the article says the airlines believe there will be little impact. In the US, most airlines say they expect their fleets to be fully upgraded by July 1, although Delta Air Lines and JetBlue will both miss the date, with 190 planes and 17 planes outstanding each, as the WSJ report. The trade association Airlines for America blamed global supply chain issues for the difficulties in hitting the deadline.
The full expansion of the crucial band, which strikes a balance between the slow-but-ubiquitous low-band 5G and the ultrafast-but-easily restricted millimeter wave 5G, was initially put off until January 2022, but it has seen further delays – first. to July 5, 2022 and then to July 1 of this year.
Currently, the only flights that may face failures are those on planes that have not yet installed 5G-interference-busting equipment and will land in low-visibility conditions. For example, a JetBlue spokeswoman said WSJ there may be a “limited impact” in Boston on low visibility days starting July 1st.
