Flying Will Be Safe Despite Y2K Bug - IATA

GENEVA (Reuters) - The millennium computer bug will not pose a safety risk for airline passengers but may cause irksome inconveniences like flight delays or a long wait for baggage, the world air transport group IATA said Thursday.

"It's not a question of safety. It's not a question of planes falling out of the sky," said Nancy Gautier, communications manager at the

International Air Transport Association's Year 2000 (Y2K) Project. "The issue is whether we can eliminate all the potential inconveniences that could be associated with Y2K," she told Reuters.

Experts fear that many computers worldwide could malfunction or crash on January 1, 2000. Many older computers allocate only two digits to represent the year. Thus, 2000 may be read as 1900, causing possible glitches.

IATA said the bug might cause luggage to go astray, impair baggage carousels or delay flights, but it would not endanger passenger safety.

"Will it be safe to fly? Yes. Safety is the first priority of the air transport industry and this will not be compromised on any day of the year, including during the millennium changeover period," IATA said in a statement.

IATA said airlines had spent more than $2.3 billion to ensure their computer systems were immune from any problems arising from the year 2000 changeover.

Gautier said the results of worldwide air transport tests for year 2000 compliance were encouraging so far.

"We can say that in every continent the work is very solid. Some continents are almost at an advantage because their equipment isn't highly computerized to begin with," she said.

The airline industry already has contingency plans in place to handle general computer problems or power failures that could help in case of year 2000 glitches.

Airlines and airports across the globe are continuing their preparations for the millennium, and Gautier said IATA would have a good picture of the general situation in late October.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@ttoacc.com), August 05, 1999

Answers

"Some continents are almost at an advantage because their equipment isn't highly computerized to begin with"

How can anybody make a statement like that with a straight face...?

-- The Outcast (Somewhere@southerneurope.eu), August 05, 1999.

"The airline industry already has contingency plans in place to handle general computer problems or power failures that could help in case of year 2000 glitches."

Logan airport recently shut down because of a power outage.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), August 05, 1999.

The contingency plan on loss of power at one airport is to land (and takeoff) from a different airport that does have power.

Simple solutiion really.

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By the way, it doesn't matter how much anybody has already spent on remediation - the only thing that matters is whether they have actually fixed the problem.

You can spend 2.3 billion, and still not fix the problem in all the places where it will disrupt air traffic, or 2.3 million, and actually fix it in all the places that it matters.

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Another observation. If these contingency plans are already in place, and if (as so firmly stated by Gautier) all of these internatioinal systems are ready for y2k, why do they need to wait until October to declare how "good a picture" the IATA will predict?

Could it be that there are hundreds (thousands) of systems NOT ready yet internationally - and that these systems (and the international infrastructure required to support them) are still being identified, surveyed, remediated, and reinstalled? In which case, why is she so determined to make sure her organization's customers make their reservations now?

Oh I forgot. Only those who recommend preparing for uncertainity have an economic interest in making sure the public "knows" only what the industry what the industry wants them to know.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), August 05, 1999.

The best thing that the air transport industry can do would be to have a week long safety standown until the y2k situation worldwide can be accessed. I know this costs to much but it would be the right thing to do until all of the planes can be test flown after the rollover with out passengers to insure the safety of the flying public. All non military aircraft except validation aircraft should be grounded from Dec 31 1999 to Jan 7 2000 for flight software y2k validation. they wont do it, but it is the right way to handle the safety risk to the flying public.

-- y2k aware mike (y2k aware mike @ conservation . com), August 05, 1999.