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AT&T will delay 5G service at some airports after airlines warn of flight chaos

United Airlines airplanes at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., Dec. 30, 2021.BRYAN ANSELM/NYT

AT&T said Tuesday that it would wait to turn on new 5G cellular service near some airports, an attempt to address concerns that the company’s equipment would interfere with airplane equipment when the service started Wednesday.

The telecom company said in a statement that it had “voluntarily agreed to temporarily defer turning on a limited number of towers around certain airport runways” while it continued to work with aviation regulators.

The company did not say at which airports it will delay activating the new service, which will expand coverage of the fast, next-generation 5G network.

Verizon, which is also slated to turn on its own new service Wednesday, declined to comment.

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AT&T’s announcement came just after executives of several airlines and others in the aviation industry sent a letter to the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, saying that they feared chaos at airports and cargo hubs because of restrictions put in place by aviation regulators to avoid interference between the new wireless service and plane equipment used during takeoffs and landings.

On a day like this past Sunday, more than 1,100 flights would have been canceled because of Federal Aviation Administration restrictions put in place for the 5G rollout, affecting about 100,000 passengers, the group said.

The new 5G service uses so-called C-band frequencies, which are close to the portion of airwaves used by radio altimeters, devices that determine the distance between planes and the ground. That measurement is particularly important to pilots when visibility is limited.

Several major companies and Airlines for America, the industry’s trade organization that organized the letter, did not immediately provide estimates for how many flights would be canceled Wednesday if the 5G rollout happens as planned. In a separate statement Monday, United Airlines estimated that the disruptions would affect 1.25 million United passengers and at least 15,000 flights annually.

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The airline group offered a solution in the letter: Allow 5G to be put in place nationwide starting Wednesday, except for within 2 miles of affected airport runways.

Airlines and the FAA had raised concerns about 5G interference over the past several years but began escalating warnings in recent months, leading Verizon and AT&T to delay their limited 5G rollout from December to early January and again to this Wednesday. The latest delay came after the FAA, which is part of Buttigieg’s department, reached an agreement at the start of January.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.