WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials said Monday they will propose new limits on how many hours airline pilots can fly in an effort to curb pilot fatigue, an issue safety officials have been urging action on for two decades.

Randy Babbitt, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said he will propose the new rule in the next several months. A former airline pilot who has been at FAA only a few weeks, Babbitt said the issue is complicated because a pilot flying fewer hours with more takeoffs and landings will likely experience more fatigue than a pilot on a longer flight with only one takeoff and one landing.

"The bottom line is I'm going to want a new rule," said Babbitt, who was accompanied by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at a media briefing.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been urging the FAA for 19 years to strengthen regulations on pilot hours. FAA proposed a new rule in 1995, but action stalled after pilot unions and industry disagreed on the proposal. The unions wanted to reduce the number of hours pilots can be on duty and increase time off between flights, while airlines opposed the changes.

"It's money," said Dave Ross, a trustee for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents pilot unions at six regional airlines. "If you can't fly a pilot as long as you do today, then that increases your cost."

FAA regulations generally limit pilots to no more than 16 hours on duty and eight hours of scheduled flight time. Pilots must also have eight hours off between shifts.

Babbitt and LaHood spoke to reporters after a daylong, closed-door meeting with airline executives and union officials to discuss ways to improve safety at regional airlines.

The meeting was prompted by the crash of Continental Express Flight 3407, on Feb. 12 near Buffalo, N.Y., which killed 50 people.

An NTSB hearing last month exposed a series of critical errors by Flight 3407's captain, Marvin Renslow, and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw that preceded the crash. Their Bombardier Dash 8-Q400, a twin-engine turboprop, experienced an aerodynamic stall before plunging into a house.

Airlines were also told FAA expects them to participate in two safety programs that are currently voluntary. One of the programs allows airlines with the aid of pilot unions to download information contained in cockpit flight data recorders so that they can spot mistakes pilots may be making and use the information to improve training.