Airline delays could increase after 5G upgrade deadline
BOSTON - Holiday travel is hitting Logan Airport after days of delays. FlightAware estimates there have been 35,000 delays nationwide since Saturday.
"I have some colleagues suffering with delays, so I am just being cautious," said Trish Reardon who was in Boston for a conference but flying back to Tampa. "I had one colleague in the New Jersey area, and his flight was cancelled multiple times coming up here."
The number of delays and cancellations could increase after the July 1 deadline when major cellular carriers in the country will be free to boost the power on their 5G networks.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the upgraded signal may ground some airplanes. The boosted signal can interfere with a plane's altimeter. This is what helps the pilot know where the ground is during severe weather.
"You need that for precision landing, but really only under bad weather conditions," said John Hansman, Professor of Astronautics and Aeronautics at MIT. "There is a way to get rid of the interference, and that is what had been required on the airplanes. Now you can't fly certain routes without the updated equipment, so the problem is a backlog of people trying to get the equipment."
Delta Air Lines says roughly 190 of their 900 planes may not have the upgrade by the deadline. Some passengers remain optimistic, while others are wondering how much their cell phones can really impact a plane.
"I am computer illiterate. I'm in my 80's. It happens. It will happen to you some day," laughs Eileen McCormack Chard Richard while sitting at Logan Airport. "I had to get rid of my flip phone five years ago when I met him. Now I can take pictures."
It turns out, individual cell phones are not actually the issue. Simply turning on "airplane mode" will not help.
"The phone transmits to a station on the ground that goes into the network. Those stations are sending information, and that is problematic," explained Hansman.
Massport is hopeful that Logan won't be impacted.
"All major airlines that operate out of Logan have updated their equipment," says Ed Freni, Director of Aviation at Massport. "They had time to make the adjustments in their cockpits, so we are confident they all have done that."
Freni went on to say that he believes most of the other airports that Logan serves and works with will have their planes updated and ready.