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The airline sector has warned that the entry into operation of 5G could have “catastrophic” consequences on its operations.

Dozens of flights to the US were canceled or modified this Wednesday around the world to avoid possible problems with thenew 5G mobile network launched today by American telecommunications giants Verizon and AT&T.

Despite the fact that the two companies agreed late Tuesday to delay the switching on of towers near some airports, air traffic was penalized by airlines' fear that certain instruments they use for navigation would be affected by the new frequencies used by operators.

Emirates, Air India, Lufthansa, British Airways and Japan Airlines, among others, announced cancellationsor changes to flights to the United States for this reason.

Some of them had already decided on the modifications before on Tuesday Verizon and AT&T, under pressure from the US authorities, agreed to postpone the entry into service of some of their towers.

The agreement came after the The airline sector warned that the entry into operation of 5G could have “catastrophic” consequences on its operations.

According to the airlines, the new frequency bands of 3.7 to 3.8 gigahertz (GHz), the so-called C-band spectrum, which will provideNetworks with greater geographic reach and faster signals can cause many aircraft safety systems to become “unusable.”

Specifically, airlines and aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing are concerned that new 5G signals could interfere with aircraft radio altimeters, which measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground, as well as the data systems that help the planes to land.

A “negligent” and “irresponsible” episode

In an interview with CNN, Emirates president Tim Clark called the situation one of themost “negligent and absolutely irresponsible” episodes” that he has seen in his career in the world of aviation.

Clark assured that his company was not aware of some of the possible problems until this Tuesday.

“We didn't know that the power of the antennas in the United States had doubled compared to what there is in other places. "We did not know that the antennas themselves had been placed in a vertical position instead of with a slight inclination," said the executive, who pointed out that this combination compromises not only the radio altimeters but the flight control systems known as "fly-by-wire." ”.

As he explained, taking this information into account, Emirates decided late on Tuesday to suspend services to the airports in question until it had more clarity.

Key technology

Although the deployment of similar 5G networks has already been done in other countries without any problems, in the US the issue has triggered a strong clash between airlines and telecommunications companies, which had received approval from the authorities to proceed. and who defend that the new frequencies do not interfere with airplanes.

“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and our nation's airlines have not been able to fully figure out how to navigate 5G around airports, even though it is safe and fully operational in more than 40 countries,” Verizon said. , the US cell phone leader.

Both this company and its rival AT&T have spent billions of dollars to acquire licenses and deploy this new technology, which offers much faster data transfer speeds than those used until now.

“Americans have been clamoring for 5G and tomorrow we will deliver,” Verizon said Tuesday in a statement confirming the launch of the service.

Verizon expects 90 million people to have access to its 5G networkthis month in large cities in the country, whileAT&T plans to cover up to 75 million usersby the end of the year.

The shares of the two operators opened lower today on Wall Street, but they did not take long to recover and by mid-morning they registered slight increases