Major airlines and shippers made a last-ditch plea to halt 5G rollout near US airports
Some of the US’ largest commercial and cargo airlines have sounded alarms about potentially “devastating” effects of 5G service around airports, saying the technology could effectively grind travel and shipping to a halt.
Airlines for America – a lobbying group that represents JetBlue, American Airlines, Southwest, United, Delta, UPS and FedEx, among others – issued a letter on Monday warning that the new 5G C-Band service could have massive impact on aircraft operations around the country and create a “completely avoidable economic calamity.”
“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,” it said, adding that up to 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers could experience delays and cancellations per day.
The ripple effects across both passenger and cargo operations, our workforce and the broader economy are simply incalculable… To be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt.
While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has acknowledged the new cell network could interfere with key aircraft systems – namely radio altimeters, which help pilots land in low visibility – as of Sunday the agency said it had cleared less than half of the US fleet to operate alongside C-Band towers. The latest update came just days ahead of a planned rollout set for January 19, which itself followed several delays due to the ongoing safety concerns.
However, the airlines stressed that the interference goes beyond one system, as altimeters “provide critical information to other safety and navigation systems in modern airplanes,” which could mean that “huge swaths of the operating fleet” are “indefinitely grounded” until the issues are resolved.
Though the airlines have long voiced opposition to a hasty 5G rollout, pressing the FAA and telecom companies for a series of delays, they said the problems are “substantially worse than… originally anticipated,” as they only recently discovered that many major airports will be under flight restrictions after January 19.
In addition to the “chaos” those restrictions would cause in the US, including for air passengers, shippers, the supply chain and the delivery of needed medical supplies, the companies said the “lack of usable widebody aircraft could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas.”
The firms urged the FAA to halt the construction of any new 5G towers within 2 miles of select airports until regulators “determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.”
Verizon and AT&T are spearheading the C-Band rollout, after winning some $80 billion in contracts to install the tech last year. While the telecoms have agreed to create temporary ‘buffer zones’ around 50 major airports to give aviators time to reduce interference risks, the measure has failed to appease airlines, who continue to demand for further delays.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jan 17 (IPS) – If the ocean is the lifeblood of the Commonwealth, then forests are the lungs that breathe life into its whole system. From the vast boreal woodlands of Canada to the rich primary forests of Papua New Guinea, the Commonwealth covers nearly a quarter of all forest land in the world – an estimated 900 million hectares. These biodiversity havens not only house about half of all animal species on earth, they also give us clean air, water and food, supporting the livelihoods of millions of people while tackling climate change.
With a 1.1 million jab delivery in Rwanda this weekend, the World Health Organization’s multilateral initiative to provide equal access to vaccines for all reached the one billion milestone.
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While Abu Dhabi police did not immediately offer any suspects, Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for an attack targeting the United Arab Emirates.
Immunity gained by infection will only be valid for 90 days
In new guidelines published by the Robert Koch Institute, Germans who have recovered from Covid-19 will only have immunity status for a period of 90 days, down from 180 days.
On Friday, the Robert Koch Institute, a federal agency responsible for disease control and prevention, published new guidance based on developments concerning the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the new guidance, people previously infected with Covid-19 will only have immunity status for 90 days. The old rules stated that prior infection could be used as proof of immunity for 180 days.
Proof of prior infection must be provided using nucleic acid detection or a PCR test. Anyone who can show a positive PCR test result that is at least 28 days old is considered recovered.
The measures came into force on Saturday.By comparison, in Switzerland, the period for which someone can claim immunity following Covid-19 infection is currently 365 days from the test results.
Germany is facing a new wave of infection driven by the more contagious Omicron variant. The seven-day incidence rate given by the Robert Koch Institute on Sunday was 515.7 infections per 100,000 people.
With a 1.1 million jab delivery in Rwanda this weekend, the World Health Organization’s multilateral initiative to provide equal access to vaccines for all reached the one billion milestone.
