Page 16 - April 2015 Volume 9, Number 4

Aviation Group Leaders Ask for Specific Contract Tower Funding, While Lawmakers Discuss Other Options for FAA Reform
On March 17, several aviation group leaders sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY), Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and other related lawmakers, requesting dedicated funding for the Contract Tower Program.
The letter requests that under the “Operations” section of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) FY 2016 appropriations bill, specific wording be used and include “not less than $153,400,000 shall be for the fully funded and cost-share towers in the contract tower program.”
It states that the FAA Contract Tower Program has provided cost-effective and essential air traffic safety services since 1982, and currently 252 smaller airports in 46 states participate in the program. The 252 towers handle approximately 28 percent of all air traffic control tower (ATCT) aircraft operations in the United States,
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but only account for about 14 percent of the FAA’s overall budget allotted to ATCT tower operations.
The letter also points out that all federal contract controllers are FAA-certified air traffic controllers who meet the same training and operating standards as FAA- employed controllers, and a majority of them are former FAA controllers or veterans with prior military air traffic control experience. The safety and efficiency record of the FAA Contract Tower Program has been validated numerous times by the DOT Inspector General, as well as by FAA safety audits.
The aviation group leaders also specify that the federal contract towers operate together with FAA-staffed facilities throughout the country as part of a unified national air traffic control system, and as a result, the FAA Contract Tower Program: (1) enhances aviation safety at smaller airports that otherwise would not have a tower; (2) provides significant cost savings to the FAA
by Kim Blonigen
APRIL 2015
AVIATION ISSUES