FAA to close 149 air traffic towers under cuts

CHICAGO — Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday of 149 air traffic control towers that it will close at small airports around the country starting April 7.

The closures will not force the shutdown of any of those airports, but pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency with no help from ground controllers. All pilots are trained to fly using those procedures.

Glacier Park International Airport is the only Montana airport on the list.

A statement from the Flathead Municipal Airport Authority and airport Director Cindi Martin condemned the decision.

“The administration has made the U.S. aviation system — airports, airlines and the flying public — the poster child for sequestration. This is politics at its ugliest and will come at great cost of our economy and safety,” Martin said.

The statement said the airport authority, along with Montana’s congressional delegation, will continue to fight the decision.

The plan has raised concerns since a preliminary list of facilities was released a month ago. Those worries include the impact on safety and the potential financial effect on communities that rely on airports to help attract businesses and tourists.

“We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said.

Martin said in February that closing the control tower here wouldn’t affect airport operations.

“It’s important to remember this airport operated for over 60 years without a tower,” she said.

The FAA is being forced to trim $637 million for the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. The agency said it had no choice but to subject most of its 47,000 employees, including tower controllers, to periodic furloughs and to close air traffic facilities at small airports with lighter traffic. The changes are part of the across-the-board spending cuts, which went into effect March 1.

The airports targeted for tower shutdowns have fewer than 150,000 total flight operations per year. Of those, fewer than 10,000 are commercial flights by passenger airlines.

Airport directors, pilots and others have said stripping away a layer of safety during the most critical stages of flight will elevate risks and at the very least slow years of progress that made the U.S. aviation network the safest in the world.

Airlines have yet to say if they will continue offering service to airports that lose tower staff.

The 149 air traffic facilities slated to begin closing are all staffed by contract employees who are not FAA staffers. There were 65 other facilities staffed by FAA employees on the preliminary list — including Helena Regional Airport — that could be closed. A final decision will require further review, the FAA said.