Bush tackles air traffic congestion

updated 8:15 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - In a year of record delays, President Bush stepped forward Thursday to try to speed American air travelers to their Thanksgiving gatherings and back home on time.

Declaring that "business as usual is not good enough for American travelers," Bush announced at the White House a series of detailed technical steps to reduce air traffic congestion and long delays that have left passengers stranded and turned holiday travel into "a season of dread for too many Americans."

In the most innovative move, the Pentagon will allow commercial airliners to use two air corridors off the eastern seaboard that are normally restricted to military flights. Supplementing the dozen air routes regularly used from Florida to New England, they will create "a Thanksgiving express lane" for commercial airliners from 4 p.m. EST Wednesday through Sunday — the busiest days of Thanksgiving travel.

For the second time since September when he ordered the Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration to come up with solutions, Bush personally intervened in the intractable problem of air congestion that previous presidents avoided and many aviation experts believe has only long-term solutions.

Crowded airports, stranded passengers and delayed flights "carry some real costs for the country," Bush said, "not just in the inconvenience they cause, but in the business they obstruct and family gatherings they cause people to miss."

Bush's moves were applauded by trade groups representing the airlines and airports but derided as ineffective by air traffic controllers who said their ranks have been thinned too much to handle the holiday crush efficiently. The pilots union called some long-term steps too drastic.

Democrats in Congress characterized Bush's actions as "better late than never," in the words of Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., House aviation subcommittee chairman, and not nearly enough in the view of Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

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Even Transportation Secretary Mary Peters acknowledged, "If we get an ice storm on the eastern seaboard, it probably won't be pretty."

Americans traveling through one of the main chokepoints, New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, remained skeptical Thursday afternoon.

Video   Clearing the air Nov. 15: Can the president of the United States ease the congestion in the skies this holiday season? Tom Costello reports. Nightly News

"It's probably a good idea, but are the airlines going to be able to handle it?" asked Dawn East, 52, as she waited for her flight to Miami, which had been delayed for two hours. "It's not a problem of the lanes up there. It's an industry problem. There's no efficiency."

Mike Young, 60, who plans to travel to Arkansas over Thanksgiving to see his daughter, doesn't expect Bush's plan to help. "In theory, it sounds nice, but given his record, I don't trust it to work," said Young, a consultant, headed home to Seattle.

Garth Ehrlich, 51, a molecular biologist waiting for a delayed flight to Pittsburgh, also expects to travel over Thanksgiving to Los Angeles, and hopes the "Thanksgiving express lane" will ease delays and that "it doesn't in any way jeopardize national security."

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