Emirates will restore its full schedule to the United States from Saturday after the Dubai-based airline was briefly forced to remove its Boeing 777 aircraft from operating flights to nine airports across the U.S.
The airline’s president, Tim Clark has described the handling of the C-Band 5G rollout in the United States as “one of the most delinquent” he had seen in his decades-long aviation career.
Clearly furious with the situation, Clark told CNN’s Richard Quest that Emirates was aware of issues surrounding the 5G rollout but that, like other airlines including ANA, British Airways and Japan Airlines, the carrier had been taken by surprise by a safety directive from Boeing on Tuesday.
The airframer had issued an urgent warning to 777 operators about a potential safety risk that affected the plane’s radio altimeter around C-Band 5G towers. The warning came just hours before AT&T and Verizon were set to switch on C-Band 5G towers across the United States.
Despite a last-minute decision by the telecoms giants to delay the rollout of 5G around some airports, it was too late to prevent a wave of cancellations as Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assessed the situation.
Emirates cancelled all scheduled Boeing 777 flights to the United States on Wednesday and quickly arranged for spare Airbus A380’s to operate flights to Boston, Houston and San Francisco on Thursday and Friday.
From Saturday, normal service will resume between Dubai and Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando and Seattle.
“We welcome the latest development which enables us to resume essential transport links to the US to serve travellers and cargo shippers,” Clark commented on Thursday.
“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.”
