Taiwan-RI flights unaffected by Y2K
JAKARTA (JP): Taiwan-based EVA Air said on Thursday it would fly as usual to Taipei from Jakarta or Denpasar on New Years Eve, but suspend its connecting flights between Denpasar and Surabaya as a year 2000 bug (Y2K) precautionary measure.
EVA Air's deputy general manager for Indonesia Makmun Hamsa said the airline's fleet was already Y2K compliant and the cancellation was partly due to the unclear Y2K preparations at the airports in the two cities.
"The cancellation is due to a general agreement made with our partners, airport managements and other carriers, to take precautions during the rollover date to January 2000 by avoiding flying to areas with very heavy air traffic or with unclear Y2K compliant status," he said.
He said the Y2K status of Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport was clear, but the case was different with Denpasar's Ngurah Rai.
He said the connecting flights between Denpasar and Surabaya were among 34 flights canceled by the airline between Dec. 30, 1999 and Jan.1, 2000.
EVA Air currently has seven direct flights a week departing from Jakarta to Taipei and seven direct flights -- three of which connect to Surabaya -- a week departing from Denpasar to Taipei.
Despite its Y2K compliant status, EVA Air would still exercise precautions by rescheduling 21 passenger flights and eight cargo flights during the period, after coordinating with the International Air Transport Association, Makmun said.
He reiterated that whether or not an airline would fly to a certain airport on New Years Eve very much depends on the Y2k readiness of the respective airport management.
Y2K refers to problems computerized systems will face at the turn of the century, when their two-digit-year counters fail to distinguish between 1900 and 2000.
The glitch may cause computers to shut down or fail to function properly. Power supplies may falter, telephones and transportation systems may stop operating and automated banking transactions may fail.
Angkasa Pura
Separately, Indonesia's airport management firm Angkasa Pura I (AP) announced on Thursday that three of the 13 airports it manages across the country are Y2K compliant.
The three airports are Ngurah Rai in Denpasar, A. Yani in Semarang, Central Java, and Selaparang in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara.
Angkasa Pura I manages airports in Java ( except the Soekarno- Hatta Airport in Jakarta and Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung) and all ports in the eastern provinces.
The company said the remaining 10 airports, including Juanda in Surabaya, East Java, Adisucipto in Yogyakarta, Sepinggan in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Hasanuddin in Makasar, South Sulawesi and Sam Ratulangi in Manado, North Sulawesi, had completed about 96 percent of their Y2k anticipation programs.
The company has adopted the British Standards Institute's definition of Y2K compliance as a guideline in their Y2K anticipation programs at the 13 airports.
It added that all the 13 airports had also prepared Y2K contingency plans in anticipation of possible problems during the rollover date.
Angkasa Pura I, along with Angkasa Pura II and state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia, conducted on Nov. 4 a simulation of a Y2K contingency plan on a Garuda flight between Jakarta and Denpasar.
The simulation aimed to check the preparedness of the airline's fleet as well as the respective airport's management.
The company said the simulation flights went very well and no significant problems were found. (cst)