Washington Sequestration Will Cause FAA To Cut Jobs

The up-coming governmental spending cuts will cost workers their jobs and the aviation industry might be hit the hardest.

The Federal Aviation Administration has informed contractors that--lacking any last-minute agreement--the agency will move Monday to close some 168 contractor-staffed air traffic control towers nationwide on April 1, and another 21 towers by Sept. 30, industry officials tell CNN.

This will only impact those working at at small-and medium-size airports, even though, combined, they handle about 5.8% of all commercial airline traffic, and considerably more business and private airplane traffic.

However, the cuts will not force the closure of the airports, because aircraft can land without air traffic control help, and some operations can be switched to other FAA facilities, states CNN.

Even with airport authorities saying the move will eliminate one level of safety at affected airports and will reduce the efficiency of the entire airspace system, the FAA feels this is the best action to take in addressing the $85 billion in spending cuts, which is known in Washington as the sequestration.

Representatives of those companies told CNN the FAA has notified them verbally that they will be receiving written notice by Monday about the pending tower closures.

"To us and our people, it's extremely significant," said Shane Cordes, CEO of Midwest Air Traffic Control Service, which provides controllers to towers in about 23 states in the East, Northeast, Great Lakes and central regions of the United States.

Adding, "We're talking not only about a loss of jobs but, from my perspective, a negative impact to the safety and efficiency of the national airspace system," he said.

This doesn't mean that FAA employees are safe, on the contrary, the FAA has said it is contemplating closing 49 FAA-staffed towers. And it has notified most of its 47,000 employees of the possibility of furloughs, expected to be one or two days every two-week pay period, according to CNN.

Wes Cozart, head of Robinson Aviation (RVA) Inc., which staffs control towers in the FAA's Southern and Southwest regions, said he is "saddened" by the pending closures. Cozart said an FAA contracting official gave him notice that it intends to close 77 of his towers, jeopardizing the jobs of more than 400 of his employees, reported CNN.

Further stating, "We're hopeful that somebody will come to a conclusion that changes this," Cozart said. "Personally, I'm not hopeful that they'll make it."

He quick backtracked after those comments and said, "I'm hopeful, But I'm not confident."