To airline travelers just back from harrowing holiday trips loaded with packages and lengthy delays, take heart, because although your journey might have been long, this should be the year that air travel becomes less stressful.

The reason: New rules limiting tarmac times for passengers will take effect at long last.

Under the new regulations announced last month — which take effect by April 20 — domestic airline passengers can no longer be held on stalled planes on tarmacs for more than three hours at a time.

Airlines have for years fought restrictions such as this, but the Obama administration finally said passengers had endured enough from the airlines, and on Dec. 21 Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced sweeping industry changes.

New rules require airlines to provide food and water for passengers within two hours of a plane being delayed on a tarmac and to maintain operable lavatories. Medical attention also must be given to passengers as needed.

Airlines face a fine of $27,500 per passenger for each violation.

A financial penalty is probably what the industry needs to force compliance, and we hope the government holds firm and fast.

This is a breath of fresh air to a debate that had all but gone stale. Yet we wonder why it has taken this long to put rules in place.

How many of us have been stranded in a stifling fuselage along with other strangers for unknown periods of time?

Many travelers have said they felt held hostage by an industry that didn’t care for their well-being. Not to mention, these were paying travelers who not only had their rights violated but were deprived of time and, in some cases, dignity.

Horror stories abound from coast to coast of packed planes sitting on runways with overflowing toilets, no fresh air and screaming, hungry babies.

In 2009, there were 864 flights with taxi-out times exceeding three hours through Oct. 31, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

In 2007 and 2008, there were an average of 1,500 domestic flights a year totaling 114,000 passengers that were delayed more than three hours.

That makes for a lot of angry U.S. fliers.

“I don’t know what can be more disruptive to people than to be stuck sitting on a plane five, six, seven hours with no explanation,” LaHood concurred.

Hear! Hear!

The airlines have begrudgingly agreed to comply but have cried foul to the new rules, saying the regulations will result in more canceled flights and even greater inconvenience for passengers.

Really? It can get worse?

Honestly, what can be more inconvenient than spending the night on a cramped plane simply because the airline won’t open a boarding gate at a closed terminal? This, unfortunately, happened in August to 47 passengers on a Continental flight diverted to Rochester, N.Y., due to severe thunderstorms.

The Transportation Department in November fined Continental Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines and Mesaba Airlines $175,000 for their roles in the incident. It was the first time an airline had been fined for actions involving a ground delay. And it signaled to many the dawning of a new era for air travel was about to begin.

Kudos to the Obama administration for ushering in this new era. We welcome it with open arms.

And may the skies once again be friendly, for passengers at least.