1999

While most major domestic airlines will have no major Year 2000 problems on Jan. 1, 2000, a significant number of smaller charter and cargo carriers could experience technical glitches, according to a report released today by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA report rated 2,822 US carriers and more than 200 charter companies on their efforts to prepare their navigational and ground- based systems for the coming new year, when programming glitches could recognize the year 2000 as 1900, and consequently malfunction or shut down.

The report awarded the highest of three ratings to more than 90 percent of the nation's major carriers - including the industry's top ten airlines - indicating that the FAA could find no Year 2000 issues that would prevent their compliance with FAA safety regulations.

The agency awarded the second-highest rating to 209 of those carriers, which offer both scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo services. While a majority of these airlines do not use computer systems that would come under the scrutiny of federal safety standards, the FAA is still investigating whether they might have outstanding compliance issues, such as proper pilot certification or regular plane maintenance.

The FAA bestowed its poorest rating upon 35 non-scheduled passenger carriers, marking the airlines as being at a significant risk of running into Year 2000-related problems.

The report made no mention, however, of concerns raised recently by Senate Year 2000 Committee Ranking Democrat Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. in regard to an issue he believes many airlines may have overlooked: code-sharing.

Code sharing is a common practice in the airline industry, in which two airlines agree to jointly market a flight if it happens to involve areas where they don't directly compete with one another. In a typical code-sharing agreement, airlines will post each others' flights using their own flight codes, and sell tickets for connecting flights as if they were their own.

Dodd voiced his concerns last week in a two-page letter to the FAA, but acknowledged there was little the agency could do to force international compliance.

"Unfortunately, the FAA lacks the mandate to compel foreign carriers operating abroad to share information on their Y2K readiness status," Dodd wrote in the letter.

The FAA Website is http://www.faa.gov .

-- G Bailey (glbailey1@excite.com), November 21, 1999