Air travel industry makes ready for Y2K

Less than three months from now, the world will look with great interest at the nation's air system and airports to see how they have met the challenge of entering the next millennium. The major U.S. airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have assured the public that all systems will be go when the clock strikes midnight Dec. 31.

In March of last year the Air Transport Association's member airlines unanimously authorized the ATA's Year 2000 program, the Aviation Millennium Project.

The Aviation Millennium Project has developed a process for sharing comprehensive year 2000 data among airlines and airports, from all segments of the commercial aviation industry and relevant government agencies.

Because of the significant commonality of systems and equipment in the aviation industry, this information sharing helps airlines and airports address the year 2000 millennium date-change challenge.

Airports

To gather information about airports and to help them prepare to address the year 2000 computer issue, the Aviation Millennium Project distributed Y2K tool kits to more than 500 airports in the United States and Canada. In addition, representatives of the project conducted on-site surveys at 173 of the largest airports in the United States and Canada to identify the systems and operations that could be affected by the Y2K bug.

Airlines

In July, the leading trade organizations for airlines in the United States reported to the White House that the industry was 95 percent finished with its Y2K remediation measures.

The International Air Transport Association estimates that airlines worldwide have spent $2.3 billion on Y2K upgrades since 1996.

Federal Aviation Administration

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, all computer systems of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) including systems that involve the operation of the nation's air traffic control system are now fully compliant for the year 2000.

The FAA successfully conducted a major air traffic control test in Colorado in April. The test involved dual tracking of Y2K-compliant systems with live traffic flying between Denver, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Longmont.

The air traffic control systems handled the rollover to the simulated new year safely and without incident. The agency will continue testing its systems and contingency plans up to Dec. 31, and through leap day, Feb. 29, 2000.

Public Opinion Strategies, a major U.S. public opinion firm, conducted extensive polling of the American public in early 1999. Approximately 65 percent of people surveyed said they believed that the year 2000 bug will cause only minor problems[[In-content Ad]]