NEW YORK: US business and leisure travellers are taking to the skies again, but experts say their flights will be more expensive, less safe and more likely to be delayed without an overhaul of the air traffic system.

Such a move faces major obstacles, including union opposition, a price tag as high as $30 billion and a history of missteps at the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees the system.

The air traffic system, which relies on technology that is more than 30 years old, is straining to handle the near-record number of flights as traffic rebounds from the plunge following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

A proliferation of regional and business jets is pushing up traffic and presenting other challenges to the air traffic control system, which has seen a series of near collisions at top airports this summer.

The United States also risks falling behind Europe, which is making a coordinated push to move to a system that allows planes to choose their own routes, liberating them from the ‘skyways’ to which they are now confined.

The European model would use global positioning system technology, better communications and more automation, experts and manufacturers say. Planes would be able to fly closer together, paving the way for traffic to triple over the next 20 years.

A consortium of European companies and governments pledged in June to spend at least $300 million a year to develop such a system, in what experts say is a sign of superior coordination.

“We need a big shake-up in the way this is done because the skies are getting more crowded,” said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers’ Association, a consumer advocacy group.—Reuters