Washington ? The government is opening some military airspace to ease airline congestion over Thanksgiving and Christmas, though the effort is likely to have only limited results. And if the weather’s bad, all bets are off.

President George W. Bush announced Tuesday that he’s expanding the Thanksgiving express lanes this year to include military air corridors in the Midwest, the Southwest and the West Coast. That’s in addition to the East Coast corridors, which were also freed up for holiday traffic last year.

The military uses the space for exercises but often makes some available to commercial planes on an ad hoc basis.