Air India has received an approval from the US authority to operate Boeing 777 aircraft to the US. The flights to New York, San Francisco, and Chicago have been scheduled for today. Over 700 passengers that were given accommodation after the cancellation of flights on Wednesday will be flying to their destinations.
Why Air India cancelled its flights to US over 5G worries?
Due to the rollout of 5G wireless networks in the US, Air India cancelled its flights to and from the US. 5G wireless networks have been set up in the United States, after which Air India cancelled its flights to and from the US. Rollout of 5G wireless networks is a major concern over aircraft and passengers’ safety.
Why 5G services is risky for aircrafts?
The 5G services uses C-band frequencies that are also used in a radio spectrum and are relatively close to the ones used by a radio altimeter placed on board aircraft. This radio altimeter is only the sensor on an aircraft that provides the exact information about the height of aircraft over ground. Any sort of interference with the sensor could be risky. DGCA chief Arun Kumar stated that to deal with this 5G situation, India’s aviation regulator is functioning carefully with their carriers.
Air India on the cancelled flights
Air India through a tweet informed people that it will not operate eight India-US flights on Wednesday because of deployment of the 5G communications in the US. Air India stated, “other fights leaving in the day are to Chicago and SFO arrangements to carry stranded passengers are being worked out”. Also, the issue related to B777 flying into the USA is now sorted. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a list of radio altimeter models that are vigorous enough against 5G C –band interference. Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 are among these, and Air India operates these planes to the US. Till January 31st, Boeing aircrafts equipped with the permitted altimeters may also pursue low-visibility landings in the 5G C-band deployment areas. A list of airports that are equipped with these radio altimeters was issued by FAA which includes all the US airports that is operated by Air India except for New York-JFK. Air India cancelled its flights to Newark, San Francisco, and Chicago from Delhi as for 20th of January. However, reports affirmed that people can still fly to New York and Washington from Delhi.
