Tech

US airlines warn of “chaos” as telecoms groups roll out 5G

American Airline planes sit on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, on January 15, 2022. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Enlarge / American Airline planes sit on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, on January 15, 2022. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) (credit: Stefani Reynolds | Getty Images)

The imminent rollout of high-speed 5G telecoms services threatens to ground flights across the US, America’s largest airlines warned on Monday, as they urged government agencies in order to intervene to avoid “chaos” for passengers and “incalculable” disruptions to supply chains.

“The harm that will result from deployment on January 19 is substantially worse than we originally anticipated, ” warned Airlines for America, an industry lobby group, pointing to the potential for 5G services to interfere with the particular sensitive equipment that aircraft use to take off and land.

The letter, seen by the Financial Times and first reported by Reuters, was signed by the largest US carriers as well as the air freight arms of two of the biggest logistics groups, UPS and FedEx.

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