(Bloomberg) — Airliners, private planes and helicopters may have to limit landings in low-visibility conditions and follow other restrictions under a government directive to ensure safe operations once a new band of 5G mobile-phone service starts in January.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday issued two legally binding orders laying out potential flight restrictions that could cause severe restrictions at major airports during bad weather.
“The FAA is working closely with the Federal Communications Commission and wireless companies, and has made progress toward safely implementing the 5G expansion,” the FAA said in a statement. “We are confident with ongoing collaboration we will reach this shared goal.”
The FAA said in a press release that it believes “the expansion of 5G and aviation will safely co-exist” and stopped short of specific restrictions at individual airports, but the two airworthiness directives lay the groundwork for what could be severe restrictions across the nation’s aviation system if the regulator believes the signals threaten safety.
“The FCC continues to make progress working with the FAA and private entities to advance the safe and swift deployment of 5G networks, as evidenced by the technical mitigations wireless carriers adopted last month,” the communications agency said in a statement Tuesday. “We look forward to updated guidance from the FAA in the coming weeks that reflects these developments.”
AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., which issued an agreement to limit the signal strength of their new 5G service on Nov. 24, have disputed the risk of interference on a key safety component installed on thousands of aircraft.
AT&T Chief Executive Officer John Stankey, speaking Monday at a UBS conference webcast, said he expects the company to begin putting the C-band spectrum into service in January and he is “not worried about the issue with the FAA.”
Aviation groups, however, said in a letter to the FCC on Monday that the measures by the company were “inadequate” and greater restrictions were needed, particularly in areas close to runways and helicopter landing pads.
(Updates with details of FAA directives, reaction from fourth paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
