Canada's Major Airlines Scale Back New Year Flights

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Canada's Major Airlines Scale Back New Year Flights

Updated 2:48 PM ET September 17, 1999

By Vanessa Thomas

TORONTO (Reuters) - Millennium revelers who want to spend New Year's Eve in the sky may be out of luck now that Canada's two major airlines have reduced their flights on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day due to low demand.

The airlines both insist the cutbacks have nothing to do with Y2K concerns. Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke said the airline has already canceled "most" of its flights from 6 p.m. EST on December 31 to noon EST on January 1. She added that the airline still plans to adjust its schedule if required, but noted the move was made after customers booked fewer flights compared with the same period last year.

"It could be because it's a special holiday or people just don't want to be flying on January 1st," she said. "But Christmas and New Year's tend to have less market demand consistently each year."

Canadian Airlines spokesman Ric Bentkowski said fewer flights would be available on New Year's Eve because of traditionally low "operational demand."

"The holiday cancellation process is a traditional one that is solely based on market value demand," said Bentkowski.

The news comes days after U.S.-based American Airlines said it was canceling about 20 percent of its flights on December 31 and about 5 percent of flights January 1 because of the holiday slump.

Other U.S.-based airlines, including United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc., have not announced any plans to cancel flights over the New Year period.

Major airlines in the United States and Canada have been informing their customers that they are Y2K ready after years of extensive testing, but some travelers remain anxious.

Experts say a Y2K glitch could possibly prevent some airline and airport computers from distinguishing 2000 from 1900 because of old shortcuts that recorded the year with only two digits.

Everything from flight scheduling and baggage handling to air traffic control and ticketing systems are highly dependent on the date.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets the international flight standards, had hoped a report originally due to be released at the end of July would have helped to quell the fear of flying by ensuring flight safety in its 185 member countries.

But the United Nations-affiliated organization said its report is on hold because 35 of the group's 185 members still have not responded to the survey.

Canada and the United States are among major countries that have submitted a Y2K readiness report.

"From a safety perspective there are no problems in major countries," said spokesman Denis Chagnon of the Montreal-based ICAO.

"Sure there may be minor problems with baggage claims and so forth, but if it's not safe, a pilot will decide not to fly at all. An airline is just not interested in taking the risk of losing lives. Most smaller countries that are not up to standard have very little traffic activity and it may be as simple as flying around that area."

Air Canada plans to run its scheduled international flights from Toronto to London, Toronto to Frankfurt, Montreal to Paris, and Osaka to Vancouver on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Some airlines such as Virgin Atlantic Airways, Vietnam Airlines, Poland's LOT airlines have already canceled all flights on New Year's Eve.

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

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 17, 1999

Answers

They say it's not related to Y2K, but if people are worried about Y2K problems in the airline industry and are not flying, then it is a Y2K problem.

-- Canuck (canuck@canada.com), September 17, 1999.

We on Kauai will suffer a ripple effect from the number of Canadians who will no visit (or who will visit later, for a shorter period). Tourism will be down...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 17, 1999.

Mad Monk,

You may have a lot of PERMANENT tourists :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), September 17, 1999.


Dang! And I was all set to go, you guys!

-- Peter De Jager (Stuck@thehouse.com), September 17, 1999.

One of our island Y2K task force concerns is "permanent" tourists... We figure that they will eventually be going home, but we could have a LOT of extra mouths to feed... We also know that we will have a lot of family and guests who are home for the holidays.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 17, 1999.


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