The U.S. government announced it will help ease up air traffic by making available temporarily its reserved military air space for commercial flights over the holidays.

"Airports are very crowded, travelers are being stranded and flights are being delayed, sometimes with a full load of passengers sitting on the runway for hours. These failures carry some real costs for the country," Bush said at the White House.

Bush outlined a plan under which the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will be able to reach agreement with the Defense Department for airspace where the Air National Guard and the Air Force conduct exercises off the Atlantic Coast. The agreement would be outlined for days in advance, instead of a same-day basis, as it was customary until now.

"It’s time for Congress to modernize the F.A.A.," Bush said, after claiming today’s air travel in the United States was run under a system "designed during World War II." Bush also announced plans other forward-looking plans which will take much longer to implement.

Tighter regulations for airlines could mean they would be punished for an "unfair and deceptive" practice if they published schedules that airplanes missed by more than 15 minutes, more than 70 percent of the time. Also, the current presidential administration wants to push a proposal to raise the compensation for passengers who are "bumped."

Indeed, air travel problems have skyrocketed over the last years, as problems which were only rarely occurring in the past have now become common and passenger confidence in airlines has subsequently plummeted. There is a stringent need for airlines to be forced to treat their customers better. It's a known fact that airlines have topped lists of companies accused of treating their customers poorly.

Under the newly proposed rules, to take effect in mid-2008, "bumped" passengers would get a payment of 800 dollars if they are left stranded more than two hours for another flight.

It's estimated that 38.7 million Americans will travel this Thanksgiving period, with 4.7 million of them traveling by air, according to the American Automobile Association.

"These failures carry some real costs for the country, not just in the inconvenience they cause but in the business they obstruct and the family gatherings they cause people to miss," the president said. "We can do better," Bush added.