Ian Sheppard/LONDON
Boeing will give written guarantees that its aircraft will behave normally through the transition to the year 2000, despite a decision by aviation insurers to exclude their own liability to the millennium software bug.
James Wigfall, Boeing's manager for business relations and support systems, spoke about the problem at the Millennium Management for the Aviation Industry conference in London on 31 March. He promised that the company would give a written guarantee to any airline operating any Boeing aircraft, providing the airline has complied with directives from the company.
Airbus Industrie says it is writing to tell its customers that its aircraft systems "will not be affected" by the change of date.
Conference delegates expressed surprise that Boeing could make such a bold offer, given the legal minefield emerging around the problem. A delegate from a North Sea helicopter operator said that Bell Helicopter had refused to give such a guarantee for its helicopters.
James Healy-Pratt of the British Aviation Insurance Group (BAIG) said that from May aviation insurers will exclude cover for any problems caused by the software bug from standard policies.
"We believe this will get the attention of our policy holders", he said. "Market forces will dictate the additional premium."
Peter Morris, underwriter for Lloyds broker Kiln Aviation, said: "We will exclude liability and then give limited rights back on a case by case basis." He added that details of the BAIG's proposal will be released this month.
As insurers threatened earlier (Flight International, 4-11 February), airlines will have to give details of both a technical audit to prove that their fleet avionics are free of the bug and a legal audit which could well contain "an airline's most commercially sensitive information", said Healy-Pratt.
Some airlines, most notably KLM, have already made plans to ground their fleets for a short time on 1 January, 2000, to carry out final checks.
Source: Flight International
