Air traffic control towers in Parkersburg, Lewisburg and
Wheeling will close early next month as the Federal Aviation Administration
cuts operations at smaller airports throughout the country.
The cuts spare tower operations at the state's larger
airports. Tri-State Airport at Huntington has been listed as one where the FAA
could remove air traffic controllers from the tower, and Yeager Airport at
Charleston could lose controllers for its overnight shift.
The FAA announced March 22 that it will close 149 federal
contract towers will close beginning April 7 as part of the agency's
sequestration implementation plan. Contract towers control traffic at
low-volume airports. The FAA will keep 24 federal contract towers open that had
been previously proposed for closure because doing so would have a negative
impact on the national interest.
The FAA will begin a four-week phased closure of the towers
beginning on April 7.
While Tri-State has been spared in this round of cuts, its
tower could still be closed, said Jerry Brienza, the airport's general manager.
"We're still on a list of towers that may potentially be
closed," Brienza said.
Even if the tower were to close, passenger and cargo service
at Tri-State would continue, he said. Traffic in and out of Tri-State would be
controlled from Indianapolis, he said. The only difference would be that ground
vehicles servicing flights and aircraft would be in touch with each other
directly instead of communicating through the control tower, he said.
"It happens all the time across the country at other
airports," Brienza said.
"It's definitely doable, but here's definitely some risk
involved when you don't have one person controlling all movements of aircraft
and vehicles."
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