Major airline CEOS warn of 'catastrophic' aviation crisis when delayed 5G roll out finally begins Wednesday: FAA warns 100,000 passengers could face delays or cancellations and some planes could be grounded PERMANENTLY

The chief executives of major U.S. passenger and cargo carriers on Monday warned of an impending ‘catastrophic’ aviation crisis on Wednesday when AT&T and Verizon are set to deploy new 5G service.

The two companies have spent tens of billions of dollars to license the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz frequency range for its new high-speed C-Band 5G service.

But officials with the FAA and airplane manufacturer Boeing have warned that there is potential for interfere with vital aircraft instruments that operate in the 4.2 to 44 GHz range, such as radio altimeters that tell pilots their altitude as they fly in low visibility.

In short, the fear is that in rare cases, false altitude readings could confuse pilots as they approach the runway in poor visibility conditions, with potentially disastrous results.

And on a day like Sunday when winter weather gripped the nation, the CEOs claim in their letter, interference to airplanes’ altimeters could result in ‘more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to cancellations, diversions or delays.’

Action is urgent, they added in the letter, writing: ‘To be blunt, the nation´s commerce will grind to a halt.’ 

The CEOs of some of the nation’s largest airlines wrote to federal officials on Monday warning about the potential negative effects of 5G

Verizon and AT&T have since agreed to push back the launch of their new service from January 4, but it is now set to debut on Wednesday.

When that happens, the airline CEOs warned federal officials on Monday, a significant number of widebody aircrafts will become unusable and  ‘could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas.’

‘Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,’ wrote the chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.  

The letter, which was obtained by Reuters, went to White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Steve Dickson and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Airlines for America, the group that organized the letter, declined to comment. The government agencies did not immediately comment.

The CEOs warned that affects to an airplane’s altimeter could confuse pilots as they approach the runway in poor visibility conditions, with potentially disastrous results

Aviation officials fear that 5G signals near airports could interfere with certain airplane instruments, including the radio altimeter used to gauge altitude

AT&T and Verizon, which won nearly all of the C-Band spectrum in an $80 billion auction last year, on January 3 agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks and take other steps to cut potential interference for six months. They also agreed to delay deployment for two weeks until Wednesday, temporarily averting an aviation safety standoff.

The CEOs of major airlines and Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun held a lengthy call with Buttigieg and Dickson on Sunday to warn of the looming crisis, officials told Reuters.

The airlines ask ‘that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles (3.2 km) of airport runways’ at some key airports.

‘Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies.’

The airlines added that flight restrictions will not be limited to poor weather operations. 

‘Multiple modern safety systems on aircraft will be deemed unusable causing a much larger problem than what we knew… Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swaths of the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded.’

The carriers added they urge action to ensure ‘5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.’

The FAA said on Sunday it had cleared an estimated 45 percent of the U.S. commercial airplane fleet to perform low-visibility landings at many airports where 5G C-band will be deployed starting on Wednesday.

The airlines noted on Monday that the list did not include many large airports.