FAA to shut 149 control towers to meet budget cuts

The Federal Aviation Administration yesterday said it would close 149 air traffic control towers at small airports across the country beginning on April 7 as it copes with automatic federal spending cuts.

The White House and transportation leaders have warned for weeks that the $85 billion in federal cuts known as "sequestration" would force smaller airports across the country to curtail operations.

The across-the-board cuts started kicking in on March 1 because Congress was not able to reach an alternative budget deal to replace them. The FAA must absorb $637 million in cuts by September 30.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Friday his department had tried to soften the blow.

The FAA said another 40 towers previously slated for closure will remain open, either because them shutting them would not be in the national interest or because money was found in a federal cost-sharing program to keep them open.

"We heard from communities across the country about the importance of their towers and these were very tough decisions," LaHood said in a statement. "Unfortunately we are faced with a series of difficult choices that we have to make to reach the required cuts under sequestration," LaHood said.

The FAA does not expect any airports to have to shut down because of the tower closings, an agency spokeswoman said.

Republican lawmakers expressed concern about the decision and asked LaHood in a letter for the analysis showing that closing each tower, as well as so many towers simultaneously, would not jeopardise safety. Republicans have repeatedly accused the White House of exaggerating the effects of sequestration in an attempt to shift the blame for a failed budget deal to Republicans.