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Countries risk halt to US flights
More than 40 fail to respond to millennium bug inquiries. By Richard Wolffe in Washington
More than 40 countries risk having flights to and from the US halted if they fail to persuade international aviation authorities that their computer systems will function at the turn of the millennium.
Transport officials said yesterday the US must decide by next month whether to halt flights to the countries that have failed to respond to international inquiries about preparations for the millennium bug, which could cause computer systems to fail as the date changes to the year 2000.
The countries represent a third of those asked to supply information to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, which sets international flight standards.
Kenneth Mead, inspector general of the Department of Transportation, told two congressional panels yesterday that more than 5m US passengers flew to those countries last year.
Mr Mead said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must decide by October 15 whether to halt those flights altogether.
"Policy still needs to be established as to whether US carriers or US code-share flights will be allowed to fly to countries that either did not respond or cannot give sufficient assurance that they are year 2000-ready," he said. "Time is running out."
At the end of August, the unnamed countries yet to respond included 18 in Asia and the Pacific region, 12 in South America, eight in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe and one in western Europe.
The state department plans to release next week the first country-by-country assessment of year 2000 risks, alongside recommendations for precautions to be taken by US citizens abroad.
The report will be the first US government report to highlight the dangers of year 2000 problems around the world, although officials warn that their findings will stress the uncertain nature of any predictions.
The House subcommittees on technology and government management heard how the FAA still faced significant challenges in dealing with "external" risks from foreign air systems - in spite of turning around its own internal computer problems in the last 18 months.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said only a third of 146 major international airlines had already ensured their computer systems were ready for the year 2000.
Another third planned to complete their preparations by the end of this month, while a final third planned to do so later or simply failed to provide a date at all.
The GAO said the authorities also needed to ensure US airports were ready for the year 2000 problem, as 22 per cent of airports said they would not complete preparations by the end of this month. |
