New York — Slots for taking off and landing at New York-area airports will be auctioned to increase competition and reduce air travel delays that ripple through the country, the Transportation Department said Friday.

Airlines quickly opposed the planned auctions, calling them an experiment with dubious legal authority that will raise prices for passengers while doing nothing to ease congestion.

The changes are likely to affect airlines with large operations at JFK such as Atlanta-based Delta and New York's JetBlue, which frequently flies to Florida.

The Transportation Department also said airlines and the government must do better when dealing with maintenance and safety to avoid disruptions.

Last month, wiring inspections grounded MD-80 planes from American Airlines and other carriers, stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers.

The department also said it will require airlines and travel agents to disclose fees for checking a second bag before people buy tickets. Airlines, financially battered by rising fuel costs, have been raising fares and adding fees.

The auctions involve some slots at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Similar changes were announced last month for New York's LaGuardia Airport.

The three airports had the worst on-time records last year and are the source of much of the nation's snarled air traffic.

In December, the Bush administration announced flight caps for the airports, forcing airlines to cut back during the busiest hours.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday that the slot auction proposals are meant to "ensure that airport caps do not become an economic drain on the region or the rest of the country."

"We need a way to keep aviation competition alive," Peters said. "Our plan strikes a sound balance between protecting investments by incumbent carriers, ensuring that all airlines have the opportunity to fly to Newark and JFK, and improving service, choice and fares for travelers."

The Air Transport Association, representing the biggest U.S. airlines, called the auctions "ill-conceived and unlawful proposals" that won't reduce delays.

"This experiment will penalize the public," ATA President James May said. "Instead of focusing on modernizing and expanding the airspace infrastructure as the traveling and shipping public expects, the government seeks to curb that demand by making it more costly to fly."

Steve Gorman, Delta operations vice president, agreed, saying that enacting "costly and untested schemes like slot auctions fails to recognize substantial investments by U.S. carriers."

"Confiscating slots from U.S. carriers to award them to the highest bidder is likely to result in handing over significant service to financially stronger foreign flag carriers," he said.

The government proposal, expected to be final in 60 days after a comment period, calls for airlines at Newark and JFK to get up to 20 slots a day for the 10-year life of the rule.

At JFK, there are two options that could lead to up to 179 slots of the airport's 1,245 being auctioned over 10 years.

For five years, 10 percent of an airline's slots above the 20 slots a day would be auctioned, with the proceeds invested to improve regional capacity and reduce congestion. Alternately, airlines would auction 20 percent above the baseline and keep the proceeds.

At Newark, the government would auction 10 percent of slots above the baseline annually for the first five years and, unlike one JFK option, airlines could bid on their own slots. Over a decade, the auctions would involve 96 out of 1,219 slots.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the auctions "nothing short of insanity."