Major Airlines Fear 5G Upgrade Will Impact Travel This Week

As if the travel industry hasn’t experience enough issues recently, something new may greatly impact travel this week.

The airline industry is in the middle of a showdown with both AT&T and Verizon over their major plans to launch a new 5G wireless service this week. There is strong concern and they are warning thousands of flights could be grounded or delayed if the rollout happens near major airports.

Several airlines CEOs say that interference from the wireless service on a critical instrument on planes is worse than what most initially believed.


The airline CEOs unanimously agreed and in a joint letter wrote they were “writing with urgency to request that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate two miles of airport runways as defined by the FAA on January 19, 2022.”

This week’s pushback from airlines follows an agreement in which AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay the launch of a new slice of 5G service by two weeks. Regardless of the concern, on Wednesday, they plan to proceed with their plans to activate their new 5G wireless.

Apparently AT&T and Verizon had dismissed the big concerns, however they did offer to reduce the networks’ power near airports. Reportedly France has done the same.

It has been reported that planes with accurate, reliable altimeters would be functional and allowed to operate around high-power 5G. Planes that are operating with older altimeters will not be allowed by the FAA to make landings under low-visibility conditions. As a result, the FAA will survey how many planes would be impacted.