Air Traffic Control Tower Closures Are Canceled After Delays Resulted At Major Airports

Plans to close 149-air traffic control towers at smaller U.S. airports were canceled on Friday, according to Reuters. The plans had been put in place by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after budget restrictions resulting from the government sequestration. The cancelation occurs two weeks after Congress passed additional legislation to end air traffic controller furloughs that had delayed flights.

The legislation gave the FAA enough flexibility to keep funding air traffic control towers, which had previously been scheduled to shut down in June as a money saving action, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

"This victory is thanks to a bipartisan coalition of senators and congressmen and women who came together to demonstrate that there are more responsible ways to cut spending than by compromising safety," Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said in a statement approving the decision.

Plans for the furloughs and the tower closures were announced by the White House earlier this year in an attempt to meet automatic spending cuts that were set to go into effect as a result of the sequestration law required by Congress that endeavored to reduce the U.S. budget deficit.

The rolling FAA furloughs caused delays at major airports across the country, requiring Congress to act.

The legislation also contained flexibility for the FAA to transfer funds to keep the control towers open, according to Moran. However, the Transportation Department officials said they needed to review it before making a decision.

There are 292 air control towers operated by the FAA, and another 251 that are operated by three private companies in a public-private partnership called the FAA Contract Tower Program, though the majority of the 5,000 U.S. airports don't have air traffic control towers.

The plan originally called for the FAA to shut down 189 of the contracted towers. That left 149 remaining to respond to pressure from lawmakers who said closures would negatively impact local economies and jeopardize safety.

The towers targeted for closures all had fewer than 150,000 takeoffs and landings or 10,000 commercial flights per year. These airports mainly cater to corporate jets and individuals with private planes. Some also house flight schools, serve as hubs for smaller airlines or provide relief capacity for larger airports nearby.

The new flexible funding approved by the FAA will allow a shift of $10 million toward reducing cuts and delays in moving to a new satellite-based air traffic control program, LaHood said. An additional $11 million will be used to partially restore the support of infrastructure in the national airspace system.