5G airports: U.S. FAA approves 90% of planes for low-visibility landings

• The FAA said it had cleared seven additional altimeters

• 5G technology could cause interference with radio altimeters at airports

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday issued approvals for about 90% of the U.S. commercial aviation fleet for low-visibility landings where 5G wireless is deployed.

The FAA, which approved about 78% of commercial planes last week, said it had cleared seven additional altimeters.

On January 18, AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) agreed to delay deployment of 5G service at towers near some U.S. airports after several airlines raised the issue that flights will be severely impacted due to 5G.

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Verizon had said, “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and our nation’s airlines have not been able to fully resolve navigating 5G around airports, despite it being safe and fully operational in more than 40 other countries.”

5G technology could cause interference with radio altimeters at airports which are used to give data for bad-weather landings.

Alaska Air said on Monday the "rollout of this new 5G band is still creating disruptions for regional air travel."

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Some of the airlines are worried about Verizon’s plans to turn on additional towers around February 1.

On Tuesday, FAA also published a directive on the Boeing 777 and 747-8 airlines that inference may affect multiple airplane systems.

Picture Credits: Reuters