Air India to resume normal services between India and US from January 21

Air India on January 20 said that the normal services between India and the US will resume from January 21 after the scare over 5G network deployment.

The services will be effective from Thursday midnight, the airliner said in a social media post. The airline has started operating three relief flights from Thursday and the normal operations will start from Friday, effectively.

#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.

— Air India (@airindia) January 20, 2022

Air India had resumed B777 flight operations from today after approval from the US authority  as reported by news agency ANI.

“Boeing has cleared Air India to operate in USA on B777. Accordingly,first flight has left this morning to JFK. Other flights leaving in the day are to Chicago & SFO Arrangements to carry stranded passengers are being worked out. Matter regarding B777 flying into USA has been sorted,” according to a statement issued by Air India.

The decision by Air India came after FAA gave approval which include most Boeing Co. and Airbus SE models, including Boeing’s 777, which was left off of the list on Sunday. Several foreign carriers had canceled flights to the U.S. on the 777 after Boeing issued a warning to its operators.

The expansion occurred because three additional models of altimeters were found to be resistant to interference from 5G, the FAA said. It had earlier cleared two altimeter models.

Absent from the list of cleared aircraft are any of the regional jet models that perform roughly half of all scheduled airline flights.

The clearances allow planes to perform low-visibility landings “where wireless companies deployed 5G C-band,” the FAA said.

Earlier, Air India cancelled 14 flights on India-US routes from Wednesday onwards due to deployment of 5G internet in North America which could interfere with aircraft’s navigation systems.

Altimeter measures height of the aircraft above the ground. The band on which altimeter works is close to that on which 5G system works.

Total three carriers — American Airlines, Delta Airlines and Air India — currently operate direct flights between India and the US.