IATA CALLS FOR SAFE ROLLOUT OF 5G NETWORKS

KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 (Bernama) -- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments to work closely with the aviation industry to ensure that aviation and incumbent aviation safety systems can safely co-exist with new 5G services.

The association said maintaining the current levels of safety of passengers, flight crews, and aircraft must continue to be one of the governments’ highest priorities even as it recognises the economic importance of making the spectrum available to support next-generation commercial wireless telecommunications.

The call came during the industry meeting in Doha, Qatar at the 78th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM).

 Before deciding on any spectrum allocations or conducting spectrum auctions, IATA called for governments to ensure close coordination and mutual understandings between national spectrum and aviation safety regulators so that each frequency allocation/assignment is comprehensively studied and is proven not to adversely impact aviation safety and efficiency.

“Robust testing in coordination with aviation subject matter experts is critically important in providing necessary information,” it said in a statement.

IATA director general Willie Walsh said many countries have successfully managed to facilitate the requirements of 5G service providers while including necessary mitigations to preserve aviation safety and uninterrupted services.

These included Brazil, Canada, France, and Thailand.

IATA also called for governments to urgently put in place large-scale incentives to rapidly expand the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) as aviation pursues its commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“By applying similar incentive-based policies to SAF, governments can support global SAF production to reach 30 billion litres by the end of the decade.

"This would be a tipping point as it would send a clear signal to the market that SAF is playing its intended long-term role in aviation’s decarbonisation and encourage investments to drive up production and drive down the price,” it said.

-- BERNAMA