Airline, air traffic control and airport reports from around the globe show that the millennium bug has not caused any computer glitches. The exceptions have been with the control of some ageing satellites (see P17).
International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general Pierre Jeanniot says: "No Y2K-related incidents were reported from any of the eight regional monitoring centres jointly operated by IATA and the International Civil Aviation Organisation."
The extensive worldwide operation to ensure that computer systems were Y2K-compliant has not been wasted, however. Jeanniot says: "This work has enabled us not only to resolve the Y2K issue, but to examine, modernise and upgrade our computer-based systems."
In New Zealand, the first extensively computerised aviation nation to welcome the new year, Air New Zealand reported no problems either at midnight local time or, 13h later, midnight GMT.
ATC problems during the millennium roll-over were "non-existent" says the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations. Eurocontrol says Y2K "had no impact on air transport". The agency notes, however, that traffic levels in Europe were "particularly low".
Source: Flight International
