Y2K Fly Readiness Of 30 Countries Questioned

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Y2K Fly Readiness Of 30 Countries Questioned

Updated 2:22 AM ET September 30, 1999

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Doubts surround air-travel safety in about 30 countries in the absence of Year 2000 readiness information, and the United States should consider steps to press the issue, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

Significant uncertainties still exist regarding foreign countries' readiness for the Y2K computer glitch, the Transportation Department's inspector-general, Kenneth Mead, said in testimony prepared for the Special Senate Y2K panel Thursday.

At issue is the failure of many countries -- mainly in Africa, Asia and the Pacific -- to reply to a Y2K readiness survey of the 185-member, Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations.

According to an ICAO list made available by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, 30 countries still had not replied as of Monday, ignoring the July 1 deadline.

They were: Albania, Angola, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Cambodia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Kiribati.

Also: Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Libya, Micronesia (Federated States of), Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Vietnam and Western Samoa.

Mead said numerous other countries failed to give sufficient information to allow for adequate Year-2000 readiness assessments.

TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT TO NAME NAMES

The Transportation Department was to release official U.S. assessments later Thursday of Y2K-related aviation issues of more than 80 of the most popular destinations for U.S. travelers.

The information can be accessed at www.fly2k.dot.gov.

The inspector-general, an in-house watchdog, raised questions about the wisdom of waiting to impose flight restrictions until "verifiable safety problems" become known.

"When there are significant uncertainties about a foreign country's Year 2000 readiness, we are not persuaded this approach will be sufficient because FAA is not likely to have verified evidence of problems until after Dec. 31," Mead said.

"A major action facing FAA is what action, if any, it will take when a foreign country does not provide sufficient information for independent assessment," he added. "FAA should reconsider its planned approach."

A spokesman for the FAA, Paul Takemoto, said it was too early to discuss what action might be taken against laggard countries. Among the options are barring flights by U.S. carriers.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 30, 1999


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