U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday that delays and cancellations could occur for some airlines starting July 1 if the last remaining passenger planes do not have their altimeters upgraded to deal with 5G interference. He said there is. wall street journal report. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that 5G C-band signals will be used in radio transmitters used by jetliners to measure their distance from the ground (the same radio waves pilots rely on when landing in poor visibility). It is argued that there is a possibility of interference.
Airlines don’t actually have to deploy new equipment until February 2024, but airlines not certified to operate around C-band 5G signals by July 1 will be required to land at certain low altitudes. will not be allowed. visibility situation.
While most of the U.S. domestic airlines are ready and more than 80% of their aircraft have been upgraded, approximately 65% of the international jets that fly to the U.S. still require repairs. This was announced by the International Air Transport Association, a global airline organization. WSJ The airline said it was doing its best to avoid confusion and was prioritizing aircraft with the necessary altimeters for flights to the United States. Air India says all its aircraft are equipped with such equipment.
Broadly speaking, airlines believe there will be little to no impact, the article said. In the U.S., most airlines say they plan to fully upgrade their fleets by July 1st, but Delta Air Lines and JetBlue have backlogs of 190 and 17 planes, respectively, and are not expected to be ready in time for that date. That’s what it means. WSJ report. The Airlines for America trade association blamed global supply chain problems for on-time delivery difficulties.
Full expansion of the critical spectrum, which balances slow but ubiquitous low-band 5G and ultra-fast but easily suppressed mmWave 5G, was initially paused until January 2022, but has been delayed further. Until July 5, 2022, then until July 1 for him this year.
For now, the only flights that may face setbacks are those on board planes that don’t have equipment in place to filter out 5G interference and land in low visibility conditions. For example, a JetBlue spokesperson said: WSJ Low visibility days starting July 1 could cause “limited impacts” in Boston.
