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Several airlines have confirmed the resumption of US-bound flights that were previously suspended on fears that 5G mobile deployments could pose security threat to passenger aircraft.
Dubai’s Emirates, as well as Air India, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways were among the carriers to confirm that services will return to normal before the end of the week.
In a statement, Emirates said that it will restore full scheduled operations to all US destinations by Saturday.
The airline will reinstate its Boeing 777 operations to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando and Seattle from January 21. Flights to Boston, Houston and San Francisco, on which the airline had temporarily deployed its A380 aircraft, will return to Boeing 777 operations on Saturday.
The announcement came after the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing issued formal notifications that lift the previous restriction on aircraft operations.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers by the temporary suspension on flights to some of our US destinations. Safety will always be our top priority, and we will never gamble on this front,” said Emirates’ president Tim Clark.
“However, we are also very aware that this is a temporary reprieve, and a long-term resolution would be required.”
Clark had earlier lambasted US authorities for the disruptions caused by the 5G deployments, calling them “utterly irresponsible”, after several major airlines rushed to suspend services to some American cities this week.
There were concerns that signals emitted from 5G towers near airports could interfere with aircraft instruments in certain Boeing planes during landings.
Other airlines resuming operations
Air India also confirmed that it has been cleared to operate Boeing 777 aircraft to the US. “We would like to inform our passengers travelling to/from destinations in the USA that effective January 21, normal operations will recommence to/from USA,” the Asian carrier said on Twitter.
A similar announcement was made by two Japanese carriers Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, which confirmed that US services will be reinstated on Thursday.
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria )
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