Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush announced steps to reduce airline delays before next week's Thanksgiving holiday travel rush, including opening up military airspace and suspending nonessential maintenance work.

Airlines will make more staff and equipment available as well, and the government is proposing to double compensation paid to passengers bumped from flights, he said.

``It's incredibly unusual'' for a president to intervene at such a detailed level in aviation issues, said Patrick Murphy, a Washington consultant who was a deputy assistant transportation secretary under Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.

Bush is trying to curb this year's record airline delays as 27 million people travel over the 12-day holiday period that begins tomorrow. About 73 percent of U.S. flights arrived on time this year through September, the worst rate since records started being kept in 1995.

``We can do better, we can have an aviation system that's improved,'' Bush said today at the White House. ``Airports are clearly crowded, travelers are being stranded, and flights are delayed sometimes with a full load of passengers sitting in the runway for hours.''

The last time a president took a similar step was when Clinton, months into his first term, met with airline chief executive officers and started a commission to study the industry's health, Murphy said.

Bush is paying attention to the issue because flying is more common than ever, with most ordinary Americans taking trips, Murphy said. Delays have become ``less and less tolerable, and the public has become impatient,'' he said.

`Express Lane'

The U.S. military will make two more East Coast routes available for airlines by opening what administration spokeswoman Dana Perino called a ``Thanksgiving express lane'' from Nov. 21, the day before the holiday, through Nov. 25.

``It gets people out of the New York airspace quicker,'' Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said.

Peters said her department aims to double to $400 the compensation to travelers involuntarily bumped for delays shorter than two hours. She said the payment would rise to $800 from $400 for longer delays, and the rule may take effect by mid-2008.

Letting airlines use the zone typically reserved for military flights ``will open up airspace and reduce delays,'' Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson told reporters.

James May, president of the airlines' Air Transport Association trade group, said in a statement, ``We share the administration's frustrations and applaud the efforts of President Bush.''

Ready for Rush

Anderson and JetBlue Airways Corp. CEO Dave Barger told lawmakers today that they were ready for the travel blitz.

``Our reservations and airport staffing levels are higher than they've ever been,'' Barger said at a House aviation subcommittee hearing. ``We do have a good-news story as we prepare for the peak holiday period.''

The government is focusing on the New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia region because about 75 percent of all U.S. flight delays stem from planes entering or leaving airspace in the Northeast, Peters said.

The New York area's three major airports, Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and Kennedy, were the nation's most congested through September, with fewer than 61 percent of flights arriving on time. Peters has been considering solutions for Kennedy, such as flight caps and charging airlines more to fly at busy times.

``If we can solve it here, we can solve it anywhere,'' Peters said of delays in the Northeast.

The Federal Aviation Administration will also impose a holiday moratorium on maintenance projects that aren't ``time- sensitive,'' according to a White House fact sheet.

The department is considering a tracking system to ensure that airlines respond to passenger complaints within 30 days, Peters said. It also may set standards for availability of food, water, toilets and medical attention if planes sit on the ground for an unspecified period, she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington at hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net; John Hughes in Washington at Jhughes5@bloomberg.net,

Last Updated: November 15, 2007 17:40 EST