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Wednesday, March 3, 1999


Computer bug
may disrupt
Hawaii tourism

Foreign airports pose
problems, officials say

By Christine Donnelly
Star-Bulletin

Tapa

Although U.S. airports are on track to beat the so-called "Y2K bug," many foreign ones are less prepared and travelers abroad should expect delayed flights, lost luggage and other inconveniences, authorities say.

Airports in Asia, including Japan, are among those lagging behind, experts say. And that's bad news for Hawaii, which depends on the steady flow of tens of thousands of tourists each day.

The period from Christmas 1999 through New Year's 2000 is expected to be especially busy, with travelers flocking to the islands to usher in the new century.

"One of the worst things that can happen to us, particularly in Hawaii, is (disruptions to) our international travel," Thomas A. Rea, Pacific representative of the Federal Aviation Administration, told a forum gathered yesterday to discuss the Y2K bug's possible impact on air transportation.

News reports in Japan last week said flights from Japan to Hawaii could be canceled or delayed because Asian members of the International Civil Aviation Organization had agreed to reduce takeoffs on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 to reduce Y2K risks.

Rea was unaware of those reports, and had no specific information about problems in particular countries. He said the FAA would issue specific advisories later.

For now "we're basically saying we cannot assure on-time travel to (foreign) airports. It's leaning toward the doomsday scenario, until we're more confident" in our international partners, he said. The FAA has no authority over foreign airspace or air traffic control systems, but is watching how other countries cope with the Y2K bug and trying to help them.

On a brighter note, Rea said the FAA is confident that Jan. 1, 2000, air travel originating in the United States, including at Hawaii's 16 airports, will "be safe and convenient," a sentiment echoed by others at the forum, including representatives of Aloha and Hawaiian airlines and the administrator of the state's airports.

Although U.S. congressional overseers have criticized the FAA for not being Y2K-compliant already, Rea said all the agency's computer systems would be ready by June 30.

Jerry M. Matsuda, head of the state Airports Division, said all its systems would be Y2K compliant by this fall, at a total cost of more than $3 million.

The job at Honolulu Airport alone is huge, with everything from luggage carousels to loading bridges to fire trucks being checked.

The so-called Y2K or millennium bug arose because many older computer systems record dates using only the last two digits of the year. If left uncorrected, such systems could treat the year 2000 as the year 1900, generating errors or system crashes.

Tapa

Log on to Web for more info

Here are some Internet Web sites offering more information on air travel in the Year 2000:

Bullet http://www.faay2k.com/ is provided by the Federal Aviation Adminstration.

Bullet http://www.spec2000.com/ is the Web page of the Air Transport Association.

Bullet http://airportnet.org/depts/regaff/year2k/ is the American Association of Airport Executives.

Bullet http://www.boeing.com has links to information about aircraft's Y2K compliance.

Bullet http://www.iata.org/y2k/ is the International Air Transport Association.

Bullet http://www.gao.gov/y2kr.htm is the General Accounting Office, which has a report on airport readiness.


Airport will go dark
in series of Y2K tests

Picture this: It's 3 a.m. at Honolulu Airport. The tired overnight crew is taking a quick breather, since there are no flights arriving or departing at the moment. Suddenly, every light on the runway goes dark. What happens next?

Hawaii airports Administrator Jerry M. Matsuda is confident his staff will spring into action, activating auxiliary power, alerting emergency crews and following careful contingency plans aimed at keeping the airport humming.

He'll know for sure by the end of the year, since the threat of Y2K bug disruptions has prompted him to schedule a total of five major disaster simulations in October, November and December. Among the drills will be simulated electrical outages that would affect everything from runway lights to flight information boards.

"We'll do them in the middle of the night when the airport is quiet," Matsuda said yesterday. "We'll close down various systems and see how the staff reacts."

He expects the so-called millennium bug to have minimal impact on Hawaii's airports, since his staff has been working since 1996 to correct any computer problems. "But part of being prepared is having contingency plans" and that's where the planned drills come in, along with his decision to limit staff vacation time the two weeks before and after Jan. 1.




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