Last edited 2:17 p.m., March 7, 2013The regional airports in Branson and Joplin are among five in Missouri and more than 100 nationwide on a Federal Aviation Administration list of those facing the threat of a tower closure due to sequestration cuts of some $600 million managed by the FAA.
According to
FAA.gov, the air traffic control tower closures could begin as soon as April 1 – just weeks after Southwest Airlines is scheduled to begin running flights through Branson Airport. The first flight by the long-awaited low-fare carrier is scheduled to arrive in Branson on March 9.
The affected airports are Branson Airport; Joplin Regional Airport; Columbia Regional Airport; Jefferson City Memorial Airport; and Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph. Those airports marked for tower closure conduct fewer than 150,000 flight operations or 10,000 commercial operations annually.
Branson Airport Executive Director Jeff Bourk said in an email response that the airport was working to address issues connected to the potential tower closure.
“The airport is working on contingency plans with all of the stakeholders to ensure the airport remains open, safe and Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines continue to operate. The airport will not close or see a reduction in air service. A contingency plan will be in place if the FAA moves forward with this plan,” Bourk said.
The FAA also is considering the elimination of overnight shifts at more than 60 facilities, including at Springfield-Branson National Airport. SGF is the only Missouri airport on the list.
SGF spokesman Kent Boyd said the FAA’s announcement regarding overnight cutbacks at SGF would have a minimal impact on operations.
“The FAA told us earlier this week that unless something is resolved fairly quickly in Washington, it would anticipate dropping the overnight shift at the Springfield tower beginning Oct. 1,” Boyd said.
He said that would affect up to six flights a day between midnight and 5 a.m. because pilots would have to essentially serve as their own control tower.
Boyd said the real worry is if daytime traffic control services were lost.
“If it happens during commercial airline hours, it’s an issue. … The big issue is if an airport doesn’t have air traffic control during airline hours, is the airline going to fly into an uncontrolled airport?” Boyd said, adding tower closures at smaller airports could potentially be devastating to operations. “Airlines are not accustomed to having to coordinate with other pilots on a common radio frequency. That’s not their world. That’s the world of small general aviation airports. There are uncontrolled airports all across the country – in Bolivar, Aurora, Branson West – but they don’t have commercial air service.
“There is this unwritten rule that in order to have commercial air service, you have got to have air traffic control."
The federal body will seek input from users and unions, after which it would finalize the scope and details of the cuts, according to a news release.
