An airline trade association is challenging New York’s law that requires airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours.

You might think airlines would be rushing to assure passengers they would be taken care of. Instead the airlines are trying to stop the law from taking effect on Jan. 1.

There is a rationale behind this court case.

The Air Transport Association tells the Associated Press it is not a question of providing for passengers, only of whether the state of New York should be able to tell airlines what they must do.

That might be.

But here’s the problem. The airlines, in particular JetBlue, did not provide for their passengers last winter. New York’s law after all was passed after long delays left passengers at John F. Kennedy International Airport stranded for more than 10 hours with no food or water, no air conditioning and overflowing toilets.

“I would love for Washington to step forward, set a standard for the whole country and take care of business once and for all,” Assemblyman Mike Gianaris, the Queens Democrat who sponsored the legislation, told the AP. “They didn’t do it.”

His comments were echoed by state Sen. Charles Fuschillo, a Long Island Republican who sponsored the legislation in the Senate.

PHOTO: JetBlue Airways passengers wait for flights at John F. Kennedy Airport on Feb. 15. AP