March 10, 2000

If you've ever been delayed at an airport because of bad weather, here's a bit of good news. Today, the governorment announced a new plan to help ease airline gridlock. News Specialist Keith McCord reports from Salt Lake International Airport.

It involves a lot of people working together. The weather forcasters, the military, and the FAA will do their best to keep pace with what Mother Nature has to offer, and keep the planes on time!

Thunderstorms at the Dallas Fort Worth airport today. Conditions like this last summer are blamed for a 75% increase in flight delays-- delays that frustrated millions of air travelers, and embarassed the airlines.

Leo Mullin/CEO, Delta Airlines: "Last year we as a system performed badly and it hurt our customers."

Today, President Clinton and aviation officials announced a new plan to reduce the delays.

When severe thunderstorms are detected, the FAA's high tech Northern Virginia command center will take greater authority over the nation's skies, routing planes around big storms.

And here's a big change: The Pentagon will give commercial planes access to military air space off the east coast.

Finally, the airlines and air traffic controllers will consult on an hourly basis while scanning the latest weather forecasts.

President Clinton: "If we can guide the space shuttle into orbit and back, we ought to be able to guide planes around thunderstorms safely."

It's not a perfect solution--after all, Mother Nature will still call the shots as far as storms go. But, with more than 197,000 flight delays last summer, something has to be done.

Initial reaction from pilots and the airlines is positive--they say these steps should help this summer. We'll certainly hear from the passengers if things don't work out!

The ultimate answer is a complete overhaul of the nation's overburdened air traffic control system; and that will take billions of dollars.