5G row: Air India resumes 6 India-US flights on B777 aircraft after Boeing’s clearance

New Delhi: Air India said it has resumed six India-US flights on Boeing B777 aircraft on Thursday after the plane manufacturer gave the clearance to operate them.
The airline also said all flights to the US will normalise from Friday.
Air India had cancelled eight flights on India-US routes on Wednesday due to deployment of 5G internet in North America which could interfere with aircraft’s radio altimeters.
US aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in a fresh directive on Thursday, said radio altimeters fitted in certain types of aircraft, including B777, will not be affected by 5G services.
Subsequently, an Air India spokesperson told PTI that Boeing has cleared the carrier to operate to the US on B777 aircraft.
“Accordingly, first flight left this morning to JFK (New York). Other flights leaving in the day are to Chicago and SFO (San Francisco). Arrangements to carry stranded passengers are being worked out. Matter regarding B777 flying into the USA has been sorted,” the spokesperson said on Thursday.
The Air India flights that have resumed their operations from Thursday are Delhi-New York, New York-Delhi, Delhi-Chicago, Chicago-Delhi, Delhi- San Francisco and San Francisco-Delhi.
Along with these six flights, two other flights — Mumbai-Newark and Newark-Mumbai — were cancelled by Air India on Wednesday.
Boeing did not respond to PTI’s request for a statement on this matter.
Later during the day, Air India said on Twitter that while flight operations to and from destinations in the US were affected during last two days, normal flights operations will recommence to and from the US “effective 0001 hrs of January 21”.
The US aviation regulator had on January 14 said that “5G interference with the aircraft’s radio altimeter could prevent engine and braking systems from transitioning to landing mode, which could prevent an aircraft from stopping on the runway”.
—PTI

 

 

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