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To: Hawkmoon who wrote (23887)	10/16/1998 10:52:00 AM
From: Charles A. King	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 31646

KLM casts doubt on January 2000 flights, faults governments on bug Copyright © 1998 Nando.net Copyright © 1998 Reuters News Service LONDON (October 16, 1998 10:14 a.m. EDT nandotimes.com) - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said on Friday it was not sure it could operate flights safely on January 1, 2000 because of the threat from the millennium computer bug, and blamed government torpor for the uncertainty. KLM's Chief Information Officer Max Rens told a conference that the airline had done everything it could to tackle the bug and ensure the safety of operations, but was being let down by governments which were responsible for airports and air traffic control. "In answer to the question, 'will you be flying in 2000?', I reply 'Yo' -- that's a combination of yes and no. KLM is ready to fly, but in order to do that you have to cross borders and go to airports. Air traffic control is out of our hands," Rens said in a speech to the Global Year 2000 Summit. Experts believe computers may crash at midnight on December 31, 1999 because many systems recognize only the last two digits in years and cannot cope with the double zeros of 2000. Computers controlling operations like air traffic control and infrastructure functions such as fuel and power supply may shut themselves down or spew out erroneous data when their year counters roll over from 99 to 00. Businesses have been cranking up efforts to solve the problem, but KLM's Rens was not impressed with belated action by governments. "We don't trust the governments. We think that they are too late, they react, they are not proactive," Rens told the conference, organized by the 29-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank and the International Chamber of Commerce. "You really have to look at yourselves and ask if you are compliant at airports and air traffic control," said Rens, to an audience including many government officials. "Have you done anything? I see no action from Brussels (the European Union). I'm fearful that we will not be ready in time, there will be delays and detours. Planes will stay on the ground and this means capital will not be generating money. Within a half a year some (airlines) will be facing bankruptcy," Rens said. He said there were more than 16,000 control chips on a Boeing 747 managing operations like fire alarms. "Only four have any millennium problems and only one has anything to do with safety. Boeing will take car of that. We have no problems with safety, we know where we are," Rens said. nando.net