Air India to commence normal ops to US from Friday
Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Jan, 2022 11:24 AM
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.
A Delhi court on Thursday directed Delhi Police to file an Action Taken Report (ATR) on a petition seeking an FIR against Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for his alleged controversial remarks against the protesting farmers.
The Uttar Pradesh government has given a six months' extension to the special investigation team (SIT) probing the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The SIT had sought extension and the state government has given time to the SIT to complete the investigation and make arrests by May 2022.
This comes just days after the COP26 climate summit, where India pledged to cut emissions to net zero by 2070, reduce carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, and raise the share of renewables in the energy mix to 50 per cent, among others, before staging a last-minute climbdown opposing a commitment to "phase out" coal.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, to monitor the Lakhimpur Kheri violence probe and to ensure fairness and independence in the investigation.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday junked petitions against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order, which upheld the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as Punjab Director General of Police.
Punjab has always stood against external intrusions and hence must be considered as a security case, not just as an economic case at the time of budgetary allocation, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said here on Tuesday. Badal made the demand during a virtual discussion with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on stepping up investment, infrastructure and growth in the country.
