Airlines in the United States have requested to extend the deadline for 5G wireless because they cannot meet the deadlines to retrofit planes to avoid disruption from the latest generation of 5G C-Band wireless service and aviation safety concerns.
Airlines for America, Boeing Airbus, Embraer, aviation unions and others have signed a letter supporting the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) demand that wireless carriers extend the mitigation as airlines retrofit radio altimeters.
The agency wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate voluntary mitigations agreed earlier this year by AT&T (T.N) and Verizon for 19 smaller telecommunications companies and other spectrum owners.
“It is critical to extend these mitigations through the end of 2023 to allow airlines time to complete the retrofit,” the letter said. Because of global supply chain issues “air carriers will likely be unable to fully meet either the December 2022 deadlines for smaller regional aircraft and many large transports, nor the July 2023 retrofit deadline,” it added.
“Our aviation coalition strongly believes that instead of once again waiting until the eleventh hour, now is the time for the leadership at federal agencies and the White House to implement a solution that allows 5G to move forward and avoid further flight delays and cancellations,” the letter said.
The FAA also reportedly wants smaller telecommunications companies to stop using 5G around airports.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.