Hyderabad: Several passengers protested at Hyderabad airport on Wednesday after the cancellation of the Air India flight to Chicago.
They were annoyed as no official explained to them the reason for the cancellation of the flight.
The Hyderabad-Delhi-Chicago flight was canceled due to the fear that a 5G rollout by AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc near the American airports would interfere with airwaves.
On its Twitter account, Air India has informed that AI101/102 DEL/JFK/DEL, AI173/174 DEL/SFO/DEL, AI127/126 DEL/ORD/DEL, and AI191/144 BOM/EWR/BOM will not operate on January 19, 2022. “Deployment of the 5G communications in the USA” has been cited as the reason for the decision.
The next direct flight from Hyderabad airport has been scheduled for Friday. However, there is no clarity about the flight.
Nine other airlines cancelled flights to US
Apart from Air India, nine other international airlines have canceled flights to the US amid conflicting reports on what new 5G cell phone services can do to critical airplane technologies.
Emirates, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, and British Airways have announced changes to some of their flights.
US air transport regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has been concerned that the version of 5G that was scheduled to be switched on could interfere with some airplane instruments. Some aviation industry groups shared those fears. This is despite reassurances from federal telecom regulators and well as wireless carriers.