Russia has not yet reported its year 2000 (Y2K) readiness status to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), industry sources have revealed.
ICAO says that 156 of its 185 contracting states have filed Y2K status reports, but will not confirm that Russia has not reported. Among 28 other states which have not filed progress reports are small nations such as San Marino, which do not significantly affect global air transport, the sources make clear. ICAO and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have promised confidentiality to encourage reporting so that help can be deployed.
National reports do not necessarily claim total compliance, but ICAO's president Dr Assad Kotaite says: "This solid response indicates a widespread awareness of the Y2K challenge and underlines the intensity of the work being carried out by all sectors of the international civil aviation community to ensure the safety and the continuity of international civil aviation during the transition to the year 2000."
Y2K information is held on a secure ICAO database which member states can access to monitor regional readiness. Although there is no plan to make the list public, IATA points out that its own compliance database, which stores Y2K data on airports, air traffic control centres and airlines, is accessible to airlines.
Meanwhile IATA reports: "We have no indication that any given part of the world will be systematically unready. There is no concentration of non-compliance that is likely to disrupt air traffic."
Finally, ICAO says that it is "finalising plans for a global co-ordinating unit to monitor the status of civil aviation and service providers during the roll-over to the [new] year".
Located at ICAO's Montreal headquarters, the global co-ordinating unit "will be linked to regional co-ordinating units around the world and they will assist in facilitating the implementation of contingency measures, should the need arise," the organisation says.
Source: Flight International
