U.S. regulators should begin closing some air-traffic facilities during slow periods late at night, the chairman of the House aviation subcommittee said.
Representative Tom Petri, a Wisconsin Republican, said in an interview yesterday that fellow members of Congress — who have at times blocked cost-saving efforts — need to let the Federal Aviation Administration shut underutilized air-control towers and radar rooms.
More than 100 U.S. airport towers and regional radar rooms dont have enough late-night traffic to justify staying open under FAA guidelines, according to government data compiled by Bloomberg. Closing those towers during slow periods could save an estimated $10 million a year.
The numbers are not huge in the overall scheme of things, but they are significant in the FAA budget and small things do add up, Petri said yesterday. He will lose the subcommittee chairmans post next year because of party term limits.
Attempts to reduce hours in towers are often blocked by U.S. lawmakers, according to logs of correspondence obtained by Bloomberg through the Freedom of Information Act. At least 26 times, lawmakers from both parties pressured FAA on controller staffing levels or the location of air-traffic radar rooms, from 2010 through May 2012, according to the records.
Closure List
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