Taiwan-RI flights unaffected by Y2K
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)