Airlines to use military airspace over holiday

To help ease airline delays over the busy Memorial Day weekend, commercial flights off the East Coast will be able to use military airspace, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Thursday.

"It gives airlines a fighting chance to beat delays by allowing them to plan new routes" in one of the country's most congested aviation corridors, Peters said.

The potentially good news comes a day after AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, said it would begin charging $15 for a traveler's first checked bag as part of a plan to help offset surging fuel costs that are crippling the industry.

The Defense Department is making four routes available off the eastern seaboard for commercial flights starting at 6 p.m. EDT Friday through 7 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Similar agreements were used to open military airspace for last year's Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday travel seasons.

Also on Thursday, the federal Joint Economic Committee released a report showing that flight delays in 2007 cost the economy a total of $41 billion in higher airline operating costs, lost passenger productivity and losses to other industries. Delayed flights consumed about 740 million additional gallons of jet fuel worth roughly $1.6 billion, according to the report.

Peters last week said that slot auctions designed to reduce delays nationwide are coming to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. A similar plan was announced previously for New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Those three airports, which also will soon have the number of flights capped during peak hours, last year had the nation's lowest on-time arrival rates. Aviation officials say delays there cascade throughout the system.

The Air Transport Association, which represents the nation's largest airlines, has said the government lacks the legal authority to impose the auctions and that a lawsuit is possible. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airports, said it will work with the industry to examine options for stopping the federal plan.