FAA: Holiday weekend weather looks OK for air travel

HERNDON, Virginia (CNN) -- The weather forecast looks OK for Labor Day weekend fliers, according to a travel update from the head of the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Right now, the weather in the system does not look too bad for the country as a whole for Labor Day," Marion Blakey told reporters gathered at a national flight control center near Dulles Airport in Virginia.

She said "we are hopeful if we don't have a weather backup that we may be doing a pretty smooth operation this weekend."

Bad weather is the leading cause of flight delays, Blakey said, but she acknowledged there has been room for improvement in how air traffic controllers respond to bad weather when they redirect flights.

One method implemented since last year is a computer-based system that helps commercial airlines share unexpectedly open slots at airports. Those empty gates might otherwise have gone unused when a flight is delayed or detoured elsewhere.

Blakey said assigning a different flight into an empty gate has saved what amounts to more than 800,000 minutes a year for airline travelers.

Security concerns may still cause delays on the ground, but officials believe the flying public has become aware of restrictions imposed last year against certain liquid carry-on items.

Blakey said the security environment has improved since there is "a combination of people who really have adapted to the security requirements and the fact that security is increasingly sophisticated at the airports." E-mail to a friend

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