FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL) on Wednesday said that it expects its flights to the United States to proceed as scheduled now that US authorities have “resolved” concerns about the impact of the fifth-generation (5G) service rollout on flight safety.
The airline said it was ready to cancel some flights to the US if there were still concerns about the effects of 5G on flight safety.
“The US Department of Transportation has assured the aviation community that aircraft landing in US airports will not encounter interference from 5G radio waves, now that telecommunications companies have agreed with the Biden Administration to revise the deployment of the upgraded technology around key airports throughout the US,” the flag carrier said in an e-mailed statement.
Major airlines in the US warned on Monday that a “catastrophic” aviation crisis could happen in less than 36 hours, when AT&T and Verizon were set to roll out new 5G service, Reuters reported.
PAL said that it would continue to monitor developments and make necessary adjustments “should there be changes that pose any impact on safety.”
“The safety of our passengers and crew is always our top priority,” said PAL Senior Vice-President for Operations Captain Stanley K. Ng.
“We welcome the intervention of the US Government and will continue to engage closely with the authorities, airports, aircraft makers and aviation safety professionals to ensure that every PAL flight is operated according to the highest safety standards,” he added.
PAL flies to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York on a regular basis.
“PAL flights to Honolulu and Guam, as well as routes to other overseas destinations in Asia, North America, Australia and the Middle East, are not affected by the 5G concerns that involved only specific airports in the US mainland,” the airline noted. — Arjay L. Balinbin
