The Chinese government has shown some ingenuity in giving Chinese airlines bosses the ultimate incentive to ensure its services are Y2K compliant. Last week it was reported the heads of all Chinese airlines have been given the ultimate incentive. Each of them has been ordered by Beijing to take a flight next New Year's Day in his own carrier's aircraft as a fly-or-fall test of his success in tackling the millennium bug. Can we now expect similar supportive gestures from Mr Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, and Mr Gary Cullen, chief executive of Aer Lingus?

Incidentally, to put the estimated cost of the Y2K bug into perspective, market researcher Gartner Group has pegged the US cost alone at $600 billion (#513 billion). This is second only to the cost of the second World War, estimated at $4,200 billion, and more than the Vietnam War, which is calculated to have cost the US $500 billion.

(# - Euro)