AT&T, Verizon temporarily defer 5G services near key airports to avert flight disruption

President Joe Biden hailed the agreement, saying it will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and economic recovery.

AT&T and Verizon Communications to pause 5G services that will bring faster wireless service to tens of millions of people. On January 18, the companies agreed to temporarily defer turning on some wireless towers near the key airports to avert significant disruption to U.S. flights. 

President Joe Biden hailed the agreement, saying "it will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery while allowing more than 90% of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled." But airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned that new restrictions would still prompt some flight disruptions as a result of the 5G service, which Verizon and AT&T are to launch on January 19. Delta Air Lines said while the wireless moves were a positive development, some flight restrictions may remain.

The FAA has warned that 5G wireless interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as radio altimeters and significantly hamper low-visibility operations. It further said it anticipated some impacts due to the limitations of some radio altimeters. As per sources, Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, or less than 10% of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution, sources briefed on the matter said. Details of the agreement, including the length of the pause, were not disclosed. Both Verizon and AT&T will launch 5G elsewhere in the country.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement that "the FAA has a process in place to assess altimeter performance in the 5G environment and resolve any remaining concerns. It is essential that the FAA now complete this process with both care and speed." This is the third time that AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay the deployment of the new C-Band 5G wireless service. The companies in November postponed deployment by 30 days until January 5 and then agreed to delay deployment until January 19. Nearly all but a handful of the impacted sites are Verizon towers, officials said.

Despite the agreement, major foreign carriers including Air India and Japan's biggest airline, ANA Holdings, said they had canceled some U.S.-bound flights because of possible 5G interference. ANA on its website said it had canceled some Boeing 777 flights after Boeing "announced flight restrictions on all airlines operating the Boeing 777 aircraft." Boeing did not immediately comment.

Airlines are likely to cancel some additional flights in the coming hours as they wait for formal guidance from the FAA on the announcements from Verizon and AT&T. They warned Monday of "catastrophic" impacts. The chief executives of major U.S. passenger and cargo carriers said the new 5G service could render a significant number of widebody aircraft unusable, "could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas" and cause chaos for U.S. flights.

The airlines asked "that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles (3.2 km) of airport runways" at some key airports. Verizon`s rollout plan is much more aggressive than AT&T`s. It is significantly impacted by the Biden administration's request to delay using some towers near airport runways.

AT&T and Verizon won significant C-Band spectrum in an $80 billion auction last year. “Verizon Chief Executive Hans Vestberg told employees on January 4 the carrier saw no aviation safety issue with 5G and had resisted prior delays,” officials said.

With inputs from Reuters

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