New airspace to ease holiday congestion

The American government has confirmed it is to open military airspace to civilian aircraft as a way of easing congestion of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season.

Outgoing president George Bush has announced the so-called 'Thanksgiving Express Lanes' will this year include military air corridors in the Midwest of America, the Southwest and the West Coast.

"This year, we're going to expand what we call the Thanksgiving Express Lanes to areas of the Midwest, the Southwest and the West Coast, including the skies over Phoenix and Los Angeles," explained Mr Bush.

These new routes are in addition to the East Coast corridor, which were also freed up for festive travellers last year.

Approximately 24 million passengers are expected to fly across America over the 12-day Thanksgiving holiday this year.

However, the plans have not been welcomed by the air traffic controllers union, who have raised fears more airspace will simply mean more planes competing for the same number of landing slots – seeing aircraft circle airports with low levels of fuel.

"Our point is that they don't have a plan to get them on the ground any faster," air traffic controller Doug Church.

"This plan does nothing to relieve the congestion at the airports that are the traditional hotspots."

Chris O'Toole