Safety Plans For Y2k Flights Set As Poll Shows Fears Ease

Updated 4:17 PM ET September 9, 1999

By Carol Huang

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new poll shows fears about flying on the eve of the millennium have eased, but some long international flights will carry more fuel that night to cope with potential computer mishaps, aviation officials said Thursday.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 260 airlines worldwide, said safety plans for coping with potential computer glitches during the year 2000 changeover also call for more spacing between intercontinental flights.

The plans have been put in place with less than four months to go before the eve of 2000, when some fear air travel could get bungled by computers misreading dates as "1900" rather than "2000."

"These contingency plans have been jointly approved by us and by the International Civil Aviation Organization," said IATA spokesman William Gaillard during a press conference held Thursday in New York.

The Air Transport Association, which represents 28 airlines carrying 95 percent of the U.S. air passenger traffic, released new data during the conference showing passenger fears about flying on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 have eased.

According to the poll, only 19 percent of 800 people surveyed over a two-day period this month believe the millennium bug will cause major problems for air travel, down from a figure of 48 percent in June.

Seventy-five percent of those polled believe there will be minor problems, and only 9 percent of those surveyed changed flying plans to avoid traveling on or around Jan. 1.

ATA President Carol Hallett said the group has worked with more than 500 commercial airports in North America to make sure that all systems are prepared to offer safe flying on the millennium.

She said the industry passed a critical test when airline and airport computers adjusted to the 9/9/99 date change without failures. The date change could have been read as a 9999 order, which is programmed as an order to shut down in some older computers.

She added that ticket sales for travel on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 are "very normal."

Monte Belger, an administrator with the Federal Aviation Administration, said the FAA has cooperated with more than 20 countries that share contiguous air space with the U.S. and plans to have tested all their systems by year-end.

"We're confident that those systems will work," he said.

He and other aviation officials at the conference said it remains up to the State Department to issue any warnings about the safety of foreign air travel during the millennium.

Despite the optimism at the conference, congressional investigators Thursday recommended more testing on aviation computer systems to determine their readiness for the date change.

They also said 53 countries out of 185 contacted by the International Civil Aviation Organization had yet to respond to a survey to gauge their readiness for ensuring safe air travel on the millennium.

A number of international airlines have said they will not fly on the millennium, including Vietnam Airlines, Poland's national airline and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 09, 1999