Global aviation bodies report high Y2K readiness

By Elif Kaban

GENEVA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Global air transport bodies brushed aside fears of Year 2000 computer glitches in the sky on Wednesday and reported high preparedness among commercial airports just over 100 days before the midnight click-over.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), whose 260 members include top airlines, said two-thirds of 1,150 such airports accounting for 90 percent of global passenger traffic were close to being or already were millennium-bug-compliant.

High up at 35,000 feet on New Year's Eve, it'll be business as usual, officials of IATA and Airports Council International (ACI), grouping some 450 airports, told an industry conference.

"If anyone's got Y2K concerns, tell them to book a plane and get on an airplane. Because one place that'll be safe is on an airplane," said IATA's Year 2000 project head Thomas Windmuller.

"Because people are doing good work. Because if anything unexpectedly does arise, there are these contingency plans where multiple failures are envisaged," he added.

The optimistic remarks from IATA contrasted sharply with dire warnings of Y2K threats to overseas travellers this week from the U.S. and British governments.

The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday the millennium bug might knock out power grids, phone links and other vital services in China, Russia, Pakistan and many other countries. It blacklisted former Soviet Ukraine, scene of the world's worst nuclear reactor accident in 1986 at Chernobyl, as unsafe.

The British Foreign Office also issued a separate but coordinated series of Y2K advisories on Tuesday.

Many international airlines have said it will be business as usual as December 31, 1999 becomes January 1, 2000.

But a number have said they will ground their fleets on the eve of the new millennium, including Vietnam Airlines, Poland's national airline LOT and Virgin Atlantic Airways [VA.CN].

Russia was one of the 35 countries U.S. investigators said this week had failed to respond to a request for Y2K data by the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organisation.

IATA declined to comment on compliance levels of individual countries, saying the data were confidential.

In one sign of that secrecy, part of Wednesday's conference session was held behind closed doors -- a simulation of possible Y2K computer glitches ranging from baggage handling crises to an airport fire that went undetected due to system failure.

According to IATA data released at the conference, 99 percent of the biggest airports in North America and 92 percent of all top airports outside North America had provided the agency with detailed information on Y2K compliance programmes.

Y2K HAS COST THE AIR TRANSPORT INDUSTRY $3 BILLION

Windmuller said organisations throughout the air transport industry had demonstrated their commitment to solving Y2K issues by spending together up to $3 billion to address problem areas.

"If there is an airport out there that is not aware of this problem, we do not know where it is," he said. "We're on top of this issue. We feel very confident it'll be either business as usual or close to business as usual at the end of the year."

What exactly might happen if computers not programmed to recognise the switch to a 2000 date malfunction is anybody's guess, with scenarios ranging from financial meltdowns to disruptions to vital services.

A collapse of computers controlling telecoms and power could wreak havoc at airports and air traffic control centres that are integral parts of local infrastructure, experts say.

But air transport industry officials dismissed fears that millennium bug-related problems could leave aircraft stranded in the sky to fend for themselves.

"We are confident. Of course there can be something in one country in the North Pole, then we'd advise governments to avoid sending somebody there. But presently, we do not see any place, as far as we know, where there should be a problem," ACI chairman Jean Fleury told Reuters.

====================================== End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 15, 1999

Answers

Two thirds were close to being ready.......

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), September 15, 1999.

Windmuller.......Bwaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahah ha ha

good one Ray!

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), September 15, 1999.

"close to being business as usual." On an airplane? I don't think so.

-- Ranger (OneRanger@OneRiot.net), September 15, 1999.