AT&T and Verizon will delay launching new wireless service near key airports after the nation’s largest airlines said the service would interfere with aircraft technology and cause widespread flight disruptions.

The decision from the companies came Tuesday as the Biden administration intervened to broker tried to broker a settlement between the telecoms and airlines over a rollout of new 5G service.

The companies said they will launch 5G or fifth-generation service Wednesday, but they will delay turning on 5G cell towers within a 2-mile radius of runways designated by federal officials. They did not say how long they would keep those towers idle.

President Joe Biden said the decision by AT&T and Verizon “will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90% of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled.” He said the administration will keep working on a permanent solution.

Even with the concession by the telecommunications companies, federal officials said there could be some cancellations and delays because of limitations of equipment on certain planes. Delta Air Lines also said there could be issues with flights operating in bad weather because of airport restrictions that regulators issued last week, when the 5G rollout appeared to be on schedule.

The new high-speed wireless service uses a segment of the radio spectrum that is close to that used by altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground. Altimeters are used to help pilots land when visibility is poor, and they link to other systems on planes.

AT&T and Verizon say their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics, and that the technology is being safely used in 40 other countries.

However, the CEOs of 10 passenger and cargo airlines including American, Delta, United and Southwest say that 5G will be more disruptive than earlier thought. That is because dozens of large airports were subject to flight restrictions announced last week by the Federal Aviation Administration if 5G service was deployed nearby. The CEOs added that those restrictions wouldn’t be limited to times when visibility is poor.

“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded. This means that on a day like yesterday, more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to cancellations, diversions or delays,” the CEOs said in a letter Monday to federal officials. “To be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt.”

The showdown between the airline and telecom industries and their rival regulators — the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees radio spectrum — threatened to further disrupt the aviation industry, which has been hammered by the pandemic for nearly two years.

This was a crisis that was years in the making.

The airlines and the FAA say that they have tried to raise alarms about potential interference from 5G C-Band but the FCC ignored them.

The telecoms, the FCC and their supporters argue that C-Band and aircraft altimeters operate far enough apart on the radio spectrum to avoid interference. They also say that the aviation industry has known about C-Band technology for several years but did nothing to prepare — airlines chose not to upgrade altimeters that might be subject to interference, and the FAA failed to begin surveying equipment on planes until the last few weeks.

Randall Berry, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern University, likened the interference issue to two stations that overlap on the radio dial. The FCC-determined separation “may be be enough for some (altimeters) but not for others,” he said.

One solution could be outfitting all altimeters with good filters against interference, Berry said, although there could be a fight over who pays for that work — airlines or telecom companies.

After rival T-Mobile got what is called mid-band spectrum from its acquisition of Sprint, AT&T and Verizon spent tens of billions of dollars for C-Band spectrum in a government auction run by the FCC to shore up their own mid-band needs, then spent billions more to build out new networks that they planned to launch in early December.

In response to concern by the airlines, however, they initially agreed to delay the service until early January.

Late on New Year’s Eve, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson asked the companies for another delay, warning of “unacceptable disruption” to air service.

AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg rejected the request in a letter that had a scolding, even mocking tone. But they had second thoughts after intervention that reached the White House. The CEOs agreed to the second, shorter delay but implied that there would be no more compromises.

In that deal, the telecoms agreed to reduce the power of their networks near 50 airports for six months, similar to wireless restrictions in France. In exchange, the FAA and the Transportation Department promised not to further oppose the rollout of 5G C-Band.

Biden praised that deal too, but the airlines weren’t satisfied with the agreement, regarding it as a victory for the telecoms that didn’t adequately address their concerns.

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The new flights to begin August 17 will depart ONT at 11:40 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. with ONT arrivals scheduled for 12:14 p.m. and 10:39 p.m. “It is welcome news that American and other air carriers are including Ontario in their recovery plans, but it is not a surprise,” said Mark Thorpe, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA). “Ontario was the fastest growing U.S. airport before the COVID-19 pandemic’s sudden and severe impact on global air travel.

It is now the fastest-recovering airport in California and the third-quickest to restore flight services in the U.S.” The carrier, which flies to Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth from Terminal 4 at ONT, will serve the Chicago O’Hare route with Boeing 737-800 aircraft equipped to accommodate 172 passengers in a three-class cabin with 16 in First-Class, 30 in Main Cabin Extra and 126 in Main Cabin. The number of passengers who traveled through ONT in 2020 totaled 2.5 million, about half as many as the year before.

Many airports around the world saw passenger volume decline by 60%. Airlines operating at ONT resumed or initiated new service to five destinations including Atlanta, Chicago (Midway), Houston (Intercontinental and Hobby), Seattle and Mexico City in the second half of 2020 while plans were announced for flights to another nine markets by Spring including Chicago (O’Hare) Honolulu, Las Vegas, Miami, Newark, Orlando, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Francisco. Colombia-based Avianca Airlines will begin service to El Salvador this summer, the first to Central America from the Inland Empire. Ontario airport has been recognized three times since last summer for understanding and meeting the needs of its customers during the pandemic.

“We applaud the efforts of our extraordinary team during what has been a challenging year for the travel industry,” said Alan D. Wapner, President of the OIAA Board of Commissioners and Mayor pro Tem for the City of Ontario. “With the support of our airline and business partners, 2021 is shaping up to be a great year for ONT as we meet the needs of this vibrant region we serve.”

Ontario International Airport • Contributed

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NEW YORK (AP) — Anyone flying to the U.S. will soon need to show proof of a negative test for COVID-19, health officials announced Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requirement expands on a similar one announced late last month for passengers coming from the United Kingdom. The new order takes effect in two weeks.

COVID is already widespread in the U.S., with more than 22 million cases reported to date, including more than 375,000 deaths. The new measures are designed to try to prevent travelers from bringing in newer forms of the virus that scientists say can spread more easily.

The CDC order applies to U.S. citizens as well as foreign travelers. The agency said it delayed the effective date until Jan. 26 to give airlines and travelers time to comply.

International travel to the U.S. has already been decimated by pandemic restrictions put in place last March that banned most foreigners from Europe and other areas. Travel by foreigners to the U.S. and by Americans to international destinations in December was down 76% compared to a year earlier, according to trade group Airlines for America.

The new restrictions require air passengers to get a COVID-19 test within three days of their flight to the U.S., and to provide written proof of the test result to the airline. Travelers can also provide documentation that they had the infection in the past and recovered.

Airlines are ordered to stop passengers from boarding if they don’t have proof of a negative test.

“Testing does not eliminate all risk,” CDC Director Robert R. Redfield said in a statement. “But when combined with a period of staying at home and everyday precautions like wearing masks and social distancing, it can make travel safer, healthier, and more responsible by reducing spread on planes, in airports, and at destinations.”

The CDC order is “a reasonable approach” to reducing the risk of new variants from abroad entering the U.S., said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s school of public health.

It’s likely that the recently identified version of the virus from the United Kingdom is “probably in every state or most states. This is going to do nothing for that,” Jha said. So far, 10 states have reported 72 cases of the variant.

But the new order may stop or diminish spread of other new versions of the virus, like one recently identified in South Africa.

“I can imagine other countries are going to impose (preflight testing) on us,” he added.

Airlines have been lobbying for preflight testing to replace broad travel restrictions between the U.S. and the rest of the world. In some cases, they have arranged for passengers to avoid quarantines after arrival by getting tested before their flight.

Testing “is key to unlocking international borders and safely reopening global travel,” said Nicole Carriere, a spokeswoman for United Airlines, one of three major U.S. carriers that flies to Europe and Asia.

Others say the CDC order is unlikely to cause an immediate spike in international travel.

“People are being encouraged by their public health authorities to not travel, even domestically,” said Henry Hartevedlt, a travel analyst for Atmosphere Research Group.

He doesn’t expect air travel to pick up until the summer when more people have been vaccinated.

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