Two Arkansas airport control towers are among those the FAA will close because of forced spending cuts, the FAA announced Friday (March 22).
Drake Field in Fayetteville and Texarkana Regional Webb Field in Texarkana will close. A four-week, phased closure of the 149 control towers will begin on April 7, the FAA said.
Forty traffic control towers were able to be saved. The FAA said it would consider keeping open any of these towers if doing so would be in the national interest.
The national interest considerations included: (1) significant threats to national security as determined by the FAA in consultation with the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security; (2) significant, adverse economic impact that is beyond the impact on a local community; (3) significant impact on multi-state transportation, communication or banking/financial networks; and (4) the extent to which an airport currently served by a contract tower is a critical diversionary airport to a large hub, according to a news release from the FAA.
The FAA must cut nearly $600 million from its nearly $48 billion budget this fiscal year.
To see a complete list of the closures click the link: http://www.faa.gov/news/media/fct_closed.pdf
