Reno-Tahoe Airport completes Y2K compliance

Scott Sonner

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1999 | 9:36 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Reno-Tahoe International Airport officials say they have cleared the last hurdles to Y2K compliance by replacing computer systems for runway lights and flight information displays.

"We are pleased to announce today that we are prepared for the Y2K transition," said Adam Mayberry, spokesman for the Washoe County Airport Authority said Monday.

"It will be as safe as any other day to use our facilities on Jan. 1, 2000," he said.

In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration and major U.S. airlines "have indicated to us and the traveling public that it will be as safe as any other day to fly on Jan. 1, 2000."

Experts have tested and certified 140 different systems at the airport, from security, firefighting and snow-removal equipment, to baggage handling, airplane deicing and emergency backup power.

Seven diesel generators have enough fuel to last for two weeks, officials said.

Airfield lighting has been "replaced, tested and certified to be Y2K compliant," said Martin Mueller, the authority's manager for information systems. So have the flight display boards, he said.

That work was done because "both manufacturers indicated certain components were not Y2K compliant," Mueller said.

"They are both fairly small things here so we decided the easiest thing to do was replace the entire system," he said.

Airport officials have spent about $192,000 of a $250,000 budget aimed at guarding against the computer bug. They started addressing the problem in 1996 and have intensified the effort over the past year, Mueller said.

Airport staffing will increase beginning at 4 p.m. PST on Dec. 31 - that's when airport computer times will turn to midnight Greenwich Mean Time, Mueller said.

"We want to be prepared should anything happen," Mueller said, adding that they don't anticipate any trouble.

Nevertheless, "we are entertaining a variety of scenarios," he said.

"The ones we have determined to be most likely are less due to technology and more due to the Year 2000 celebration - mass gatherings and a large number of people, foul weather we can get that time of year and holiday travel in general," he said.

Mayberry said five regularly scheduled flights were scheduled to arrive about midnight on Dec. 31, but four of those five have canceled and the fifth - a Delta flight from Salt Lake City - also may cancel.

"That's not a reaction to Y-2K," Mayberry said. "It's a matter of people deciding not to travel then because they want to be home with families and friends celebrating."