Major airlines say the 5G doomsday scenario is over

Airline executives breathed a sigh of relief to their investors Thursday, saying they believe the threat to their operations from the rollout of 5G technology is now behind them. Although AT&T and Verizon have agreed only to temporarily delay 5G deployment at major airports, the CEOs of American and United both said there will now be a resolution of the dispute without thousands of delayed, diverted or canceled flights. They had been predicting those dire consequences earlier this week. "It's taken a while to get to the right spot, but I feel like we're in the right spot," said Doug Parker, the CEO of American Airlines. "I don't think you're going to see any material disruption going forward because of this." "While I wish it happened earlier, the good news is we now have everyone engaged, the FAA and DOT at the highest levels, the ... aircraft manufacturers, airlines and the telecoms," said Scott Kirby, the United CEO. "While we don't have a final resolution quite yet, I'm confident we'll get there." The Federal Communications Commission auctioned off the C-band spectrum to US wireless carriers last year — an $81b sale that would allow them to provide robust -- and lucrative -- 5G service. But the airlines soon started screaming that use of that technology near airports could interfere with aircraft radar altimeters, an instrument that tells pilots how high their plane is off the ground. Altimeters are crucial for landing airplanes in low-visibility conditions. That could have meant widespread, continual and costly schedule disruptions -- perhaps delaying tens of thousands of flights a year. It could have costs billions of dollars to the industry that has lost tens of billions in the last two years due to the pandemic.<br/>