Insurance brokers specializing in the aviation industry say that the carriers they have spoken to are not planning to cancel aviation coverage.

"There has been nothing from the carriers, so far," said Rick Weinkauf, vice president and director of aviation for Daytona Beach, Fla.-based insurance broker Brown & Brown. "No one is invoking a notice to cancel coverage."

"Carriers are taking a wait and see attitude," said Dean Anderson, director of aviation for Chicago-based insurance broker Acordia, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo Company. "They are not jumping to conclusions."

John McCaffrey, corporate vice president and head of the aviation niche for insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher, headquartered in Itasca, Ill., said since the terror attack of 9/11, both customers and carriers have carefully reviewed their policies to make sure their risks are positioned in a way both parties are comfortable with.

"There is no scramble here," he noted. "No one is saying, ?I wish I thought of that.' There is no knee jerk reaction to this [war crisis]."

The brokers said that those with aviation interests, small commercial airlines, and corporate and private aircraft have purchased war risk for their craft. Insurers can cancel the coverage with notice.

The length of notice time can vary depending on the policy agreement and range from 48 hours to 30 days. Generally, the notice time is 7 days. And criteria for that notice spells out clearly that it needs to be a declared conflict between sovereign nations.

Immediate termination is available under with the detonation of nuclear device, they said.

If notice is given, insurance purchases would then be subject to market conditions and would probably be available at a substantial percentage of the worth of the hull and liability coverage being purchased. One broker said that premiums usually run about 15 percent of the worth of the hull and 20 percent of the liability being purchased.

When asked about the immediate cancellation of aviation insurance for five helicopters used by the United Nations Monitor, Verification and Inspections Commission in Iraq earlier this week, the brokers speculated that the contractors must have used contract language to cancel the policy not used in the standard forms.

For the United States' commercial air carriers there is not concern for coverage cancellation, said Joyce Howard, managing director of aviation practice for Chicago-based Aon Corp. The broker represents seven of the nation's 10 largest air carriers, she said.

These carriers come under the insurance coverage of the Homeland Security Act, which provides coverage for the country's carriers who have entered the program or are a part of the Civil Reserve Aircraft Fleet. Under CRAFT, the commercial carriers provide planes to the government for transport.

Coverage, she said, is comparable to traditional carrier's coverage, and slightly less expensive.

At a disadvantage, she noted, are foreign carriers who are dependent on the traditional market, largely written by Lloyd's of London Syndicates. Here, they are subject to war risk buy back, cancellations and denial of coverage on 24 hour notice for air routes deemed to be too dangerous.