CY spending thousands to overcome millennium bug

CYPRUS Airways (CY) is spending a six-figure sum to remain airborne on December 31 by foiling the millennium bug.

The airline has already launched an information leaflet detailing what it is doing to avoid being grounded over the New Year, and to assure customers of the safety of flying with the national carrier.

Employing some 70 people to work on the job, CY says it is also relying on external agencies, such as government departments, airport authorities and air traffic control, with whom it has to work closely. All of the agencies involved are working on an exchange of information.

CY is also in close co-operation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and other international airlines and organisations.

“Emphasis is given on the systems involving the safety of our customers and our people,” the leaflet quotes Group Chief Executive Demetris Pantazis as saying.

Pantazis said that by the end of July, the Cyprus Airways Project 2000 team would be heavily involved in testing all systems to ensure that objectives were met to provide customers with a safe flight.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.