WASHINGTON - As more travelers find themselves waiting - and waiting - in airports this summer, Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday that the head of the nation's aviation agency should get the ax.

Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey came under fire from the senator over seemingly constant backups at New York City's major airports, which cause cascading delays across the country.

"It falls clearly in the lap of the FAA and the FAA administrator," said Schumer (D-N.Y.).

The senator faulted Blakey for what he said was a destructive feud with the nation's air traffic controllers, who say that constant understaffing is forcing them to work too much overtime, raising the possibility of errors caused by fatigue.

Blakey "has engaged in a counterproductive fight with the air traffic controllers, cut the number of controllers that are needed, and they sometimes lash back," said the senator.

An FAA spokeswoman did not immediately comment.

The problem is particularly acute at the three major airports in the metropolitan area. Between January and April, 38 percent of all flights at Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia were either late or canceled, leading to disruptions nationwide.

In some cases, the delays seem to come without any weather- or crowd-related reason. At LaGuardia in January and February, passenger traffic dropped 3 percent compared to the same period a year ago, but delays rose 13 percent.

Schumer argued that in the heavily regulated airline industry, it's up to the government to step in and enforce changes to reduce delays, and Blakey has refused to do so.

"It's getting to the point where it's intolerable," Schumer said.

FAA officials have said they are taking a number of steps to reduce delays in the metropolitan area, including redesigning flight routes and adding new software to help respond to bad weather.

The agency also wants Congress to pay for a multibillion-dollar upgrade of the nation's air traffic control system. Proponents of the upgrade say the addition of global positioning satellites could more accurately coordinate traffic and allow aircraft to fly closer together.