In the USA there are flight cancellations due to a lack of staff and bad weather. In addition, the planned start of the expansion of the 5G mobile network was postponed because airlines have security concerns.
Washington. Air traffic in the USA is still severely restricted due to a lack of staff in the corona pandemic and bad weather. Over the weekend, more than 2,700 flights were canceled, according to the Flightaware.com website. Accordingly, there were more than 4,600 flights worldwide. For example, the US airline SkyWest had to cancel 23 percent of its flight schedule.
Chicago Airport was particularly hard hit. There, more than half of the take-offs and landings were canceled due to an expected snow storm. There were also extensive restrictions on Sunday, when many people return from the Christmas holidays. Almost 1,500 flights were canceled in advance in the USA alone, and more than 2,500 worldwide.
Global air traffic is still affected by numerous corona cases. Many pilots and flight attendants are in quarantine because of an infection or contact with infected people. Over 7,000 flights worldwide were canceled or canceled over Christmas.
At the weekend it was also announced that the planned 5G rollout would be further delayed due to possible risks for aviation. Because of these risks, the US government is pressing for a slight delay in the rollout of high-speed 5G internet for cellphones. Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg and the head of the FAA, Steve Dickson, appealed to the network operators AT&T and Verizon to postpone the introduction planned for January 5th for a maximum of two weeks.
In addition, the introduction of the so-called C-band – i.e. a certain frequency range – around important airports should be restricted until the end of March in order to have enough time at the airports for necessary tests and upgrades.
Short delay
Buttigieg and Dickson wrote that without delay there was a threat of extensive and unacceptable disruptions to air traffic, especially in bad weather and poor visibility.
In addition to the already existing cancellations due to the many cases of illness among pilots, technical problems might lead to the diversion and cancellation of numerous flights and thus quickly affect the entire air traffic, they warned.
The FAA fears that 5G technology might interfere with certain aircraft electronics. In particular, the effects on the aircraft’s radio altimeters must be checked, the FAA said shortly before Christmas.
The reason is that the radio frequencies that will be used in the United States for 5G are quite close to those that are also used for the altimeters of the aircraft. The telecommunications companies have acquired the rights to use the radio frequencies for many billions of US dollars and are relying on rapid commissioning.
In Europe, setting up a 5G cellular network poses no problems for airlines, as other radio frequencies are used.
(Ag.)
