C-Band 5G Launch Is Not Yet Affecting US Domestic Flights
While major foreign airlines have cancelled flights into the US based on fears about today's C-Band 5G rollout, domestic flights within the US seem to be unaffected, according to arrival and departure boards at major airports.
Verizon and AT&T today plan to launch additional 5G channels on the C-Band 3.7-3.8GHz frequencies, which have been a subject of dispute between the mobile and air-travel industries.
According to the airlines, the C-Band rollout will imperil the performance of radio altimeters, which help planes judge their altitude. The airlines say the rollout will lead to widespread delays and cancellations of flights in bad weather.
Yesterday, Verizon and AT&T agreed to somewhat larger "exclusion zones" for C-Band launches around airports, with C-Band-free approaches lengthened from 1.3 to 2 miles.
PCMag checked the arrival and departure boards around 7:30 a.m. ET at New York's LaGuardia Airport and Chicago's Midway Airport, both of which are in cities with C-Band rollouts today; as well as Seattle, Portland, and Nashville, all of which both have C-Band rollouts and projected bad weather, according to Weather.com.
At Seattle, which is currently cloudy with projected rain later today, only Alaska Airlines has reduced its domestic flight schedule, and it has only cancelled a few. The cancellations don't appear to match up to airplane models that haven't been cleared by the FAA as safe to function near C-Band. The Seattle Times says the fog ceiling today is not currently low enough to trigger potential restrictions.
Cancelled flights AS2190 and AS2186 use the Embraer 175 jet, which has not been cleared, but still-operating flight AS3311 also uses the E175, and is flying. Cancelled flight AS169 uses the Airbus 320
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