Emirates, Air India, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, which cancelled flights to the United States amid 5G rollout in the country on 19th January 2022, have resumed scheduled Boeing B777 flights to the US.
Emirates resumes US flights
As a result of telecommunication operators delaying the roll-out of 5G networks around US airports, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing have issued formal notifications that lift the previous restriction on aircraft operations, enabling Emirates to safely restore full scheduled operations to all its US destinations today (21st January 2022).
From today, the Dubai-based airline will once again operate scheduled Boeing B777 (the aircraft which was affected due to the 5G rollout) flights to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando and Seattle. Emirates services to New York JFK, Los Angeles and Washington DC, which are operated by Airbus A380, have remained unimpacted. Flights to Boston, Houston and San Francisco, on which the airline had temporarily deployed A380 aircraft on 20th and 21st January 2022, will return to Boeing B777 operations on 22nd January 2022.
The airline also operates Boeing 777 freighter aircraft to Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Columbus and Aguadilla, carrying exports and essential cargo such as food and life-saving medicines and pharmaceuticals.
Earlier this week, Emirates suspended its services to some US destinations based on the FAA advisory and Boeing recommendations on possible interference between the 5G antennas and aircraft systems.
Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, said:
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers by the temporary suspension of flights to some of our US destinations. Safety will always be our top priority, and we will never gamble on this front. We welcome the latest development which enables us to resume essential transport links to the US to serve travellers and cargo shippers. However, we are also very aware that this is a temporary reprieve, and a long-term resolution would be required. Emirates will continue to work closely with the aircraft manufacturers and relevant regulators to ensure the safety and continuity of our services. We’d like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding, and express appreciation to our teams and partners who have worked round the clock to minimise impact on customers and help us return to service quickly.
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Air India, Japan Airlines and ANA too resume flights
Air India, which had suspended some flights to the US which are operated by B777, has announced that starting today, all flights are being operated as scheduled.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have also announced that as of 20th January 2022, all of their flights to the US are operating as scheduled.
Yuji Hirako, President and CEO, All Nippon Airways, said:
As the launch of the 5G service in the U.S. has now been partially postponed, operation of ANA flights from Jan. 20 will follow the normal schedule based on FAA notification that there is no safety issue with the operation of Boeing 777 aircraft to the U.S. airports that we serve.
Japan Airlines, in a statement, said:
Today on January 19, we have received confirmation from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) that there is no longer a problem with the operation of the Boeing 777 and we will resume service to the U.S. mainland with Boeing 777 from January 20. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and if there is any impact on our flight operations, we will promptly announce it on our website.
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