Awareness of the year 2000 computer problem has reached that level in industrialised nations where any casual mention of the Millennium Bug is likely to elicit accusations of hype. That should worry those nations' airlines, as they fly daily into regions of the world where awareness of the date rollover problem is abysmally low.
As Flight International's review of the aviation industry's progress in tackling the Y2K issue shows, the problem is not with the aircraft themselves, but with the ground infrastructure and its interfaces with the outside world.
Airbus and Boeing have reviewed the Y2K susceptibility of their aircraft, and found only minor problems that, at worst, will result in despatch delays. Both manufacturers stress, however, that they cannot take responsibility for the readiness of airlines operating their aircraft, airports they operate into and airspace management systems they operate within.
It is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by reviewing the accelerating progress of the US aviation industry in tackling the Y2K problem. Even the Federal Aviation Administration, harshly criticised for its late start and heavily burdened with its poor reputation for bringing big projects in on time, says it is on schedule and even ahead of other US Government agencies in renovating its computer systems.
North America's airlines have the problem well in hand, and are spending large sums repairing or replacing affected systems. The region's airports seem finally to be getting the message, even if it took time for the subtleties of the Y2K problem to sink in. They, and others, were slow to grasp the date rollover susceptibility of embedded processors - the microchips in everything from cooling fans to runway lights.
With its own act coming together nicely, the US aviation industry is turning its attention increasingly to the international community. Rightly, it has ceded leadership in this arena to the two most appropriate agencies: the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Together, these agencies will bear the brunt of the education and enforcement action that will be required to shepherd the world's aviation industry safely into the next century.
IATA's year 2000 project is targeting all international airports and air traffic service providers outside North America that are used by member airlines, with priority attention being given to the top 70 airports, their associated flight information regions, and states providing overflight facilities along principal intercontinental tracks. ICAO will target the aviation agencies of its member nations.
With the certainty that not every link in the aviation chain will be ready for the date rollover, the issue is how safety will be assured and passengers protected. Both IATA and ICAO intend to "enforce" Y2K compliance by publishing their assessments of the readiness of everyone from airport operators to aviation authorities, hoping this will be sanction enough to prompt action.
IATA's colour-coded assessments - black where there is no Y2K programme in place - will be available only to member airlines, which will then be free to withdraw their business from non-compliant airports or suppliers.
ICAO will make its assessments available to the wider public on its new Y2K Internet website, www.icao.int/y2k. This may seem mild punishment, but the furore caused by the FAA's unilateral safety oversight compliance assessments - its controversial Category rankings - shows that such information, in the hands of the travelling public, can inflict substantial economic damage on those assessed as falling short of internationally accepted standards. ICAO's website, therefore, is likely to become a frontline weapon in the war against the Millennium Bug.
Source: Flight International
