NEW HAVEN — The city and Tweed New Haven Regional Airport will sue the Federal Aviation Administration, or more likely join existing litigation, to prevent the closing of the airport control tower June 15, officials said Monday.
“I think it’s impossible to have a strong economic region without an airport with commercial service, and I think the community needs to do everything it can to keep the airport open, including litigation,” Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said after a special meeting of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority.
Tweed, one of six Connecticut airports that could see its tower shuttered, first will file an administrative complaint with the FAA, said Tweed attorney Hugh Manke.
The complaint seeks to stop the closure by asserting the FAA failed to go through due process required under its regulations, including holding a public hearing before taking action that affects a safety system, he said.
The FAA had planned to begin closing “contract towers” at 149 airports on Sunday, but delayed action to June 15.
Federal regulations require a study of potential environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act before such action is taken, Manke said.
He said he expects the FAA to deny the airport’s request for a stay, at which time Tweed will seek to intervene in existing litigation seeking to stop the closures.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., working with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., are prepared to introduce legislation that would prevent the FAA from closing any of the control towers.
The FAA imposed the cuts as part of $637 million in budget cuts it was required to implement under sequestration related to Congress’ failure to reach agreement on a new budget.
The control tower at Tweed, which is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, is operated under contract with the FAA by Midwest Air Traffic Control of Overland Park, Kan. But the airport remains open all night, and planes come and go from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. when the tower is closed.
The CEO of US Airways, the one airline flying out of Tweed, told Blumenthal the eight daily US Airways Express flights between New Haven and Philadelphia will continue after the tower closes.
Tweed Airport Manager Lori Hoffman-Soares told the authority there are 251 smaller airports in the U.S. with “contract towers” operated by private companies under contract to the FAA. Airport administrators are closely watching President Barack Obama’s budget, which they believe may eliminate funding for the 102 towers that weren’t on the current closure list.
Tweed is investigating moving equipment, such as light controls and an electronic weather monitoring system, out of the tower so Tweed’s operations staff can operate them themselves. Without people interfacing with the weather system, US Airways and many corporate jets won’t fly into an airport, she said.
Airport officials also are talking to the state about potentially funding continued operation of the tower and have gotten informal, preliminary estimates from two companies, including Midwest Air Traffic Control.
Hoffman-Soares told the airport authority it would cost $522,000 a year to have one company operate the tower, or $300,000 for a second company to operate it as it is now. Operating the tower with diminished hours would cost $230,256 for one company or $122,500 for the second, she said.
The other Connecticut control towers slated to close are at Bridgeport’s Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Hartford Brainard Airport, Waterbury-Oxford Airport, Danbury Municipal Airport and Groton-New London Airport.
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