FAA issues approvals on landing at US airports where 5G is deployed – Foreign airlines restart flights

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Telecommunication tower with 5G cellular network antenna on city background

The FAA issued new approvals Wednesday that allow an estimated 62 percent of the U.S. commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where wireless companies deployed 5G C-band.

The new safety buffer announced Tuesday around airports in the 5G deployment further expanded the number of airports available to planes with previously cleared altimeters to perform low-visibility landings. The FAA early Wednesday cleared another three altimeters.

Even with these approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected. The FAA also continues to work with manufacturers to understand how radar altimeter data is used in other flight control systems. Passengers should check with their airlines for the latest flight schedules.

Aeroplane models with one of the five cleared altimeters include some Boeing 717, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, MD-10/-11 and Airbus A300, A310, A319, A320, A330, A340, A350 and A380 models.

Carriers across Asia, the Middle East and Europe cancelled flights to the United States or switched planes at the last minute on Tuesday and Wednesday, disrupting travel for thousands of passengers, over safety concerns caused by the 5G deployment.

But Japanese carriers said late on Wednesday they would restore cancelled flights and U.S. airlines said thousands of planes were operating normally after two telecom carriers agreed to delay the rollout at key airports.

From 21 January, Emirates will reinstate its Boeing 777 operations to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando and Seattle. Emirates services to Los Angeles, New York JFK, and Washington DC remain unimpacted. Flights to Boston, Houston and San Francisco, on which the airline had temporarily deployed A380 aircraft on 20 and 21 January, will return to Boeing 777 operations on Saturday 22 January.

Air India informs passengers that effective 00:01 on 21st January 2022 normal flights operations will recommence to/from the USA.

Wednesday, January 19-20, 2022

FAA UPDATE

A couple more planes were cleared on 20 January. But an “all clear” is not expected. “We anticipate some altimeters will be too susceptible to 5G interference. Aircraft with those altimeters will be prohibited from performing low-visibility landings where 5G is deployed.

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