Airbus and Boeing call for 5G delay over aircraft safety fears
Airbus and Boeing have urged the Biden administration to delay turning on 5G mobile networks over fears they could affect US aircraft safety.
Bosses of the world’s two largest plane makers have asked the US Transport Secretary, Peter Buttigieg, to support postponing the rollout that is due to start in early January.
Airbus said it and Boeing had been working with other aviation groups in the US to understand potential 5G interference with radio altimeters.
Concerns centre on what is known as C-band, a range of frequencies that sit between WiFi’s frequencies of 2.4GHz and 5GHz. They are regarded as offering a good compromise between coverage and data speed.
Aviation officials are concerned that the frequencies to be used in the US are close enough to those used by altimeters to cause interference and make the readings unreliable, a particularly dangerous situation when trying to land an aircraft in fog.
The US Federal Aviation Authority said earlier this month that 5G interference could result in flight diversions and that it would provide more information on the scope of the problem before the rollout.
Other countries are using 5G frequencies that are less likely to cause problems, according to the FAA.
Its British equivalent, the Civil Aviation Authority, said last month there was no evidence that 5G networks in the UK posed a risk to aircraft following the American row.
The stakes are high for US mobile operators, which have spent more than $80bn on 5G licences.
The telecoms lobby group, the CTIA, said the technology was perfectly safe and estimated that $50bn of economic growth could be lost by delaying the rollout by a year.
Last week the United Airlines chief executive, Scott Kirby, said C-band 5G services could divert, cancel or delay about 4pc of flights, affecting altimeter use at about 40 US airports.
At a Senate hearing last week, the Southwest Airlines chief executive, Gary Kelly, said 5G was the budget carrier’s “number-one concern”.
The friction comes as airlines try to repair their finances after years of disruptions and cancellations caused by coronavirus, while telecom companies aim to offer faster and more reliable networks.
The 5G technology has acted as a lightning rod for conspiracies as its development has coincided with the coronavirus pandemic.
In October, a man was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work for causing £100,000 of damage to a 5G mast in Gateshead.
Separately, United Parcel Service is buying 19 Boeing freighter jets as demand for air freight continues to soar.
It will take delivery of the 767 Freighters between 2023 and 2025 in a deal that bolsters the UPS fleet and adds to a record-breaking year for Boeing’s freighter sales.
