WASHINGTON — In a year of record delays, President Bush stepped forward yesterday to try to speed American air travelers to their Thanksgiving gatherings and back home on time.

Declaring that “business as usual is not good enough for American travelers,” Mr. Bush announced at the White House a series of detailed technical steps to reduce air traffic congestion and long delays that have left passengers stranded and turned holiday travel into “a season of dread for too many Americans.”

In the most innovative move, the Pentagon will allow commercial airliners to use two air corridors off the eastern seaboard that are normally restricted to military flights. Supplementing the dozen air routes regularly used from Florida to New England, they will create “a Thanksgiving express lane” for commercial airliners from 4 p.m. EST Wednesday through Sunday — the busiest days of Thanksgiving travel. For the second time since September when he ordered the Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration to come up with solutions, Mr. Bush personally intervened in the intractable problem of air congestion that previous presidents avoided and many aviation experts believe has only long-term solutions.

Crowded airports, stranded passengers, and delayed flights “carry some real costs for the country,” Mr. Bush said, “not just in the inconvenience they cause, but in the business they obstruct and family gatherings they cause people to miss.”

Mr. Bush’s moves were applauded by trade groups representing the airlines and airports but derided as ineffective by air traffic controllers who said their ranks have been thinned too much to handle the holiday crush efficiently. The pilots union called some long-term steps too drastic.

Long-term, Mr. Bush expressed support for so-called “congestion pricing” proposals that would charge airlines higher fees to take off and land at peak hours in overcrowded airports to encourage them to spread flights throughout the day.