Y2K bug fails to surface
DESPITE worries about possible glitches from the Y2K Bug in the computer changeover to the year 2000, there were no reported hiccups at major companies and entities here up to late yesterday. Checks at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri with major airlines BWIA, GA 2000 and North American which operate international flights here said there were no problems New Year's day. The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) also reported there was an unexpected smooth changeover. A BWIA official on duty at the airport at Timehri said, "I am not aware of any problems that surfaced at the airport, certainly not with our airline." BWIA, according to the staffer, had two flight departures from the airport at 0535 hrs and 1635 hrs for Port of Spain. The flight departures contradicted earlier information from the airline that it had suspended all flights that day, out of precaution. The staffer who noted that the flights left "pretty light" was unable to say how many passengers were aboard. Another BWIA flight was expected at 22:20 hrs last night from Miami, after stopovers in Barbados and Port of Spain. Guyana's first privately owned and operated national flag carrier GA 2000 reportedly left for New York yesterday morning after resting on New Year's Day and according to an official flights are back to normal. Sales Manager of North American Airlines, Mr Junior Horatio said the airline flew on Old Year's day and its first flight to Guyana for the New Year is expected to depart the JFK International Airport, New York at 11:40 hrs tonight. The return and first flight from Guyana leaves at 08:10hrs tomorrow. Horatio said passenger traffic for the airline during the season was "exceptionally good". GT&T General Manager (International Business), Mr Raymond Roopnauth, contacted at home for a comment on how the telephone operations fared during the changeover, remarked "it is amazing that after all the hyped-up excitement, our operations were easy and smooth...we had no problems, it's amazing..." GT&T in a release on December 30 had appealed to customers to resist the temptation to pick up their phones at midnight on Old Year's Night, out of curiosity to find out if the Y2k bug had silenced the dial tone. The warning, according to GT&T was as a result of the experience during the post-elections violence in Georgetown in December 1997, when the telephone system crashed, as an unusual number of subscribers simultaneously picked up their hand sets. Several telephone subscribers with whom the Chronicle spoke said they were relieved when they found that the phones still had dial tones. One woman remarked, "I could have had a heart attack when I picked up my phone at around 01:30hrs and found I had a dial tone and after some 10 minutes of dialling was able to reach my family overseas." (WENDELLA DAVIDSON)
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