Well, President Bush’s term might be winding down, but don’t think for a second he’s just sitting back and coasting through the next six weeks.
Bush yesterday unveiled a series of measures meant to ease the crowded Thanksgiving holiday rush and cut down on flight delays.
USA Today reports that the president announced he’d ordered the military to open three new flight routes to commercial airlines in Colorado, Arizona and Southern California during the Thanksgiving travel period, and they will open again open additional routes, as they do every year, off the East Coast.
“A lot of our citizens are nervous about travel,” Bush said, as quoted in USA Today. “They are saying, ‘Will traveling home for the holidays be a wonderful life or will it be the nightmare before Christmas?’ “
Bush also wants airlines to file airport-specific plans for how they are going to deal with holiday delays, whatever that means.
Even though he’s a lame duck, critics nevertheless took the opportunity of these announcements by jumping all over him. Labor and consumer groups blasted Bush’s plans as moronic.
“This is a different year, same gift,” said Doug Church, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. “I don’t think there is any relevance to today’s announcement. It’s all for show.”
I guess we’ll wait and see if this has any impact on our travels.