Air travelers can credit the recession for being able to get in and out of South Florida on time, but they should expect air travel headaches to return when the economy rebounds, according to an exhaustive air travel study.

The report by Brookings, a Washington-based think tank, said airline delays at South Florida airports have eased because fewer people are traveling and fewer planes are flying. But until recently, airports in South Florida had ranked among the country's worst in airline delays.

``When economic growth returns, we expect delays to increase,'' Adie Tomer, one of two study authors, told El Nuevo Herald. ``Now is the time to implement strong policy and implement technologies that are available now to increase capacity.''

The study included Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport -- all considered among the nation's busiest. It is one of the most comprehensive reports on air travel because authors analyzed two decades of data, beginning in 1990.

Not everyone agreed with the report's conclusions.

James Marinitti, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association Local MIA, said chronic delays have ``practically disappeared'' at MIA after the airport opened its fourth runway in 2003. Delays, however, arise periodically due to airline scheduling and frequent -- but fast-moving -- thunderstorms.

``The system is very complex and there is no silver bullet out there that going to fix it,'' Marinitti said.

The Brookings report -- ``Expect Delays'' -- cites airport congestion and weather as causes of delays. But the study notes other reasons not previously highlighted: concentration of flights into 26 transfer hubs and an immense amount of relatively short flights between hubs.

Tomer said research found the Miami area to be the second-biggest international airline hub after New York. The Miami-New York air corridor is considered the nation's busiest.

Recent delays among flights within the United States averaged 57 minutes compared to 41 minutes in 1990, Tomer said. Other cities experiencing worse-than-average delays: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and San Francisco.

Even though delays were less than the national average, South Florida was included as among the worst because delays in the region are more frequent than in other areas.

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