Air India to commence normal ops to US from Friday

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) National carrier Air India will commence normal operations to US from Friday, the airline said.

On Tuesday, the national carrier said that it will not be able to operate a number of US-bound flights due to the deployment of 5G communications in the US.

As per industry insiders, the 5G network technology might cause certain crucial flight instruments to malfunction.

The airline informed passengers via its official Twitter handle: "#FlyAI : Flight operations to/from destinations in USA were affected during last two days.

"We would like to inform our passengers traveling to/from destinations in the USA that effective 0001hrs of 21st January 2022 normal flights operations will recommence to/from USA."

Earlier in the day, Boeing had cleared AI to operate to the US on Boeing 777 aircraft.

Accordingly, the first Air India flight left from New Delhi to JFK airport on Thursday morning.

Besides, Air India is expected to operate other flights to Chicago and San Francisco.

"Arrangements to carry stranded passengers are being worked out," the airline said.

The US air transport regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has been concerned that a version of 5G could interfere with some airplane instruments.

Earlier, aviation industry groups had shared those fears. This is despite reassurances from federal telecom regulators and well as wireless carriers.

Specifically, the FAA has been worried that 5G cellular antennas near some airports - not air mobile devices - could throw off readings from some aircraft equipment designed to tell pilots how far they are from the ground.

The systems, radar altimeters, are used throughout a flight and are considered critical.

At present, Air India operates to 5 destinations in the US.