The Trenton Times published the following article on April 29, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

FAA sequester fix could cancel closure of Trenton-Mercer Airport control tower

By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton 
on April 29, 2013 at 2:28 PM, updated April 29, 2013 at 2:43 PM

EWING — Mercer County officials said today they are hopeful legislation approved by Congress late last week will prevent the scheduled closing of the air traffic control tower at Trenton-Mercer Airport on June 15.

“I have a good feeling that that money is in there to fund places like Trenton,” County Executive Brian Hughes said this afternoon.

The legislation passed on Friday allows the Federal Aviation Administration to shift funds to end furloughs of air traffic controllers that delayed hundreds of flights, particularly at larger airports. The FAA had trimmed funding in response to $85 billion in across-the-board federal budget cuts called the sequester.

The money can also be used for other FAA operations, including towers operated by contractors at Trenton-Mercer and other small airports that are slated to close due to the sequester cuts. A spokeswoman for the FAA declined to comment today on the new legislation’s impact on contract towers.

The bill passed last week allows the FAA to use up to $253 million from airport improvement and other accounts to end the furloughs through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Hughes said he was confident the legislation will allow the FAA to fully fund the contract towers through the end of the fiscal year. If there is still pressure for continued cuts in the next fiscal year, it will be up to the FAA and Congress to work together and make responsible decisions about where to find savings, he said.

County officials and residents have raised concerns that the closure of Trenton-Mercer’s tower would affect passenger use of the airport. Some residents have said they are concerned that the airport could be less safe, though others have noted that small aiports elsewhere operate without manned towers.

Frontier Airlines, the airport’s only commercial carrier, recently expanded its schedule to offer flights daily to ten destinations. Frontier officials have said they will continue to provide service to the airport even if the tower closes.

Hughes said the airport will continue to operate if the tower is unmanned, but he said he and other county officials would prefer to have the controllers present.

Trenton-Mercer’s tower was originally set to close in early May, but the FAA pushed back the closures of 149 contract towers nationwide to June to work out legal challenges.

Hughes said the county petitioned last week to intervene in one of the challenges filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal, initially filed by the airport in Spokane, Wash., argues the FAA did not use up-to-date data to decide which towers to close.

“There are a lot of questionable statistical anomalies about how they decided that Trenton would be the only funded control tower in the state to lose its funding,” Hughes said.

The FAA will continue to fully fund the tower at the Essex County Airport and at an airport in Morristown, which were initially considered for closure, he said.

County Attorney Sarah Crowley said the court challenge was fast-tracked so a resolution can be reached before the June 15 closure date. She said at least 50 airports have asked to join the appeal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.