Matsushita Bans Year-End Air Travel

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Tuesday November 9 11:35 PM ET

Matsushita Bans Year-End Air Travel

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's largest consumer electronics maker will ban all 280,000 employees from making business trips by air at the turn of the millennium, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

The measure by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will apply to all worldwide employees from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1, said Matsushita spokesman Akira Kadota.

Kadota said Osaka-based Matsushita Electric will take the precautionary measure on concern that computer failures may occur during the period.

The millennium bug could strike computers and microchips, programmed to read years with only two digits. The systems are unable to differentiate between the years 2000 and 1900, and could go haywire if not correctly reprogrammed.

Matsushita Electric - which sells products under the National, Panasonic and Technics brand names - finished assessing all of its products, by October, and found no flaws, Kadota said.

Earlier this month, a top Japanese official overseeing the Y2K issue said Japan is far more prepared than is the United States for possible computer problems that could hit worldwide.

Still, about 100,000 technicians from top Japanese electronic companies will camp out in their offices on standby to watch for any computer problems at the turn of the century, according to the Japan Electronic Industry Association.

The association consists of about 150 member companies, including Matsushita Electric. 

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