Delta Airlines Completes Aircraft Updates To Avoid 5G Signal Disruption

Delta Airlines made improvements to its aircraft to avoid interference. (photo: twitter @delta)

Fear that the 5G signal could cause mass flight delays appears to have now ended, after Delta Airlines made improvements to its aircraft to avoid disruption.

Reuters reports that the airline has completed an update on radio altimeters in an operating fleet. Other aircraft undergoing scheduled maintenance will also be equipped with a new altimeter. Delta told the Associated Press that this update "means no Delta aircraft will comply with weather-induced restrictions."

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) previously said that some specific 5G signals could affect the altimeters pilot uses to measure their distance from the ground during low visibility situations. Although the altimeter and 5G cell towers actually do not share the same spectra, the FAA believes that some aircraft altimeters may be having problems distinguishing radio signals. This sparked a dispute between telecommunications companies and the FAA about where the 5G signal can be activated and with how much signal power.

Mobile carriers can finally activate their 5G signals in most locations, but they continue to block areas around airports while airlines update their altimeters.

Starting in July, airlines were barred from landing in certain low-visibility situations if their altimeter had not been updated, which led US Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg to warn of possible delays and flight cancellations.

Almost all domestic aircraft have been updated, while Delta is the main exception - the airline has 190 aircraft without updated altimeters. With the aircraft update, the 5G-flight crisis can finally be overcome