With flight delays and consumer frustration on the rise — this year is on track to be the worst in history for delays, and customer complaints doubled from last year — air travel is hardly seen as flying the friendly skies.

In fact, it can be downright dicey, says the Federal Aviation Administration.

"The fundamental problem is we are working within the constraint of air traffic control technology that is half a century old, " FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told senators in Washington.

Over a billion passengers are forecast to take to the skies annually by 2015. Current capacity is stretched thin at 750 million annually.

Part of the problem is the growing number of private and corporate aircraft in already-overtaxed airspace. Add to that an antiquated air traffic control system that relies on 1960s radar-based technology, and you don't need to look far to see the crisis at our door.

The good news is the FAA has an answer: NextGen, a new satellite-based system that can handle up to three times the current traffic.

What's needed now is for Congress to pass the right bill. That would be the one sponsored by Sens. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., authorizing the FAA to cover the costs, which will easily exceed $10 billion.

But the FAA is also pitching a more equitable plan to pay for the changes, using a combination of general funds and cost-based user fees and fuel taxes. It's designed to cut commercial air travelers a break and allow passengers on private jets to shoulder their fair share. Considering a commercial plane pays $2,015 in fuel taxes, while a private jet using the same route, airspace and services pays only $236, these changes are overdue.

Let's hope Congress can muster the political will to put efficiency and safety of air travelers before the interests of well-monied lobbyists looking for break.