5G at airports: mobile phone providers make concessions - Lufthansa reacts

Created: 01/19/2022, 17:40

By: Patricia Huber

Lufthansa has also made changes due to safety concerns.

© Boris Roessler/dpa

Cellular carriers AT&T and Verizon have made a last-minute decision to restrict 5G network deployments near airports.

The reason was safety concerns.

WASHINGTON — AT&T and Verizon are making last-minute concessions on their expanded 5G services for faster Internet on cell phones, amid airline industry security concerns*.

Verizon announced on Tuesday that it had voluntarily decided to initially limit the introduction of the new mobile communications standard in the vicinity of airports.

5G conflict: Delayed launch

This was preceded by a conflict with US airlines, which feared disruptions to air traffic because a radio frequency range of 5G Internet and certain aircraft electronics could get in the way.

US President Joe Biden thanked the mobile phone giants in a statement for their cooperation and spoke of a limited number of locations where the introduction of 5G is now being delayed.

It's about airports that play a key role in aviation.

The compromise will prevent potentially devastating disruptions* to air traffic.

However, over 90 percent of the 5G rollout went ahead as planned.

The industry association Airlines for America had previously warned of potentially catastrophic consequences and aviation chaos if AT&T and Verizon did not give in.

Despite the agreement between mobile operators and US airlines, some international airlines took special security precautions on Wednesday to mark the launch of 5G.

As a precaution, Emirates, Air India and, according to media reports, British Airways canceled some US flights, including to Newark, Orlando and San Francisco.

Other airlines grounded certain Boeing models over safety concerns after the aircraft manufacturer informed them of possible radio frequency interference from 5G.

Lufthansa: 5G causes a canceled flight

Lufthansa * did not use a Boeing 747-8 on its US flights on Wednesday, for whose radio altimeter the FAA had initially given no approval. From Frankfurt to Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, older jumbos of the 747-400 type, which would otherwise have flown to Asia, were now deployed. According to a spokeswoman, a flight from Frankfurt to Miami was completely canceled and the passengers were rebooked on a plane from Munich. No cancellations or another aircraft exchange are planned for Thursday and until further notice.

The subsidiary Austrian also used a different type of aircraft than initially planned.

Swiss, on the other hand, flew to the USA as planned with three Boeing 777s.

On Friday, the US Air Traffic Control Authority (FAA) had already ordered special measures for landings of the Boeing long-haul jet 787 “Dreamliner” due to safety concerns due to the introduction of 5G.

If the runway is wet or snow-covered at airports with 5G service, additional precautions would have to be taken because the machines could need a longer braking distance, the authority said.