The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that it would shutter 149 airport control towers early next month, including at least six in the Washington region.
The closures come on the heels of the mandatory spending cuts that went into effect earlier this month. The Federal Aviation Administration had planned to make the closure announcement last week but delayed the decision because it had received a of the volume of appeals. The shutdowns, which begin April 7, are part of the more than $600 million in cuts the agency must make because of sequestration.
"We heard from communities across the country about the importance of their towers, and these were very tough decisions," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "Unfortunately, we are faced with a series of difficult choices that we have to make to reach the required cuts under sequestration."
Closures in the D.C. region include the towers at Lynchburg (Va.) Regional Airport and five Maryland airports, including Frederick, Hagerstown, Baltimore, Salisbury and Easton. The Frederick tower has been operating for less than a year. The fate of the Manassas Regional Airport tower, which was on the original list of those were slated to be closed, was not clear.
Even before the final list was released on Friday, many local officials seemed resigned to the closures.
"The appeal process was really an administrative exercise," said Kevin Daugherty, airport manager at Frederick Regional Airport. But the news still stung.
"Having the tower means everything to us, from safety to jobs to corporate development," Daugherty said. "Without it we're really [moving] backwards.
Communities lobbied aggressively to keep some towers operating and Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and James Inofe (R-Okla.) proposed an amendment to the continuing resolution that would have restored $50 million to keep them open.
In February, LaHood released a list of towers that would be targeted for closure and those that would lose their overnight shifts. Some saw LaHood's announcement as part of a campaign by the Obama Administration to prod lawmakers to avert the sequester. But no deal was reached.
Once the automatic spending cuts went into effect, March 1, communities were given a window of time to appeal those decisions.
In a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, Rep. John Delaney, whose Maryland district is home to two airports that are losing towers, emphasized the economic impact the airports have on the local economy.
"Together these airports represent $200 million of business revenue and 2,500 jobs," he wrote. "The closing of the towers [at Frederick and Hagerstown] will undoubtedly have an adverse impact on the economy and employees of the airports."
Republican transportation leaders have also questioned whether the FAA's leadership is making the right decisions on the budget cuts it makes under the sequester.
