International airlines are the latest to voice concerns over the U.S. rollout of 5G cellphone technology near airports. Sergio Quintana reports.
International airlines are the latest to voice concerns over the U.S. rollout of 5G cellphone technology near airports.
This caused a few airlines to cancel flights, including Emirates and Air India, which left passengers stranded at San Francisco International Airport Wednesday.
It was situation for a group of people who were expecting to fly to Delhi on Air India.
Satender Singh and his family arrived from Fresno early Wednesday morning, they found no flight - and very little information.
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"I don't have any idea what happened. Just only, cancelled,” Singh said.
On Air India's twitter feed , they posted a message to passengers that read in part - "Due to deployment of the 5G communications in USA - we will not be able to operate the following flights of 19 January - 2022.” The SFO to Delhi flight is one of four U.S. routes Air India canceled.
It left a group of more than a dozen family members scrambling to figure out how to get to a wedding in Delhi.
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"So, what's the plan tomorrow? Are you going to come back here in the morning to catch another flight?" NBC Bay Area’s Sergio Quintana asked the Fresno family.
"No, I stay here, and I booked an 8:25 am, it's a United and goes to Chicago and make a connection to Delhi,” said Khushpreet Kaul.
Kaul added that she wants to stay in the terminal just to be ready if there are any other changes.
The big issue for international carriers - is the altimiters on the Boeing 777 jet. They said they are concerned it could be affected by the 5G rollout.
Because those instruments on the triple-7 - operate on a very close portion of the radio spectrum.
"It's a very popular plane. It's a workhorse of international travel. It more or less replaced the 747 that everyone knew so well for decades,” Mike Mccarran / NBC Bay Area Aviation Analyst
The FAA cleared several other models on Sunday – but it left the big Boeing 777 off that list. Other international carriers decided to substitute other jets for their international routes and continued their usual service.
On Wednesday, federal authorities did clear the Boeing 777 and carriers are now evaluating when they will put the big jet back in rotation.
They recommend passengers to check in with their airlines to see how their flights will be affected.
