The Federal Aviation Administration set dates to cease funding for air traffic control towers at 149 small airports around the country, including five in Georgia.
In metro Atlanta, Briscoe Field of Gwinnett County and McCollum Field of Cobb County are set to lose funding for its tower May 5, according to the FAA on Wednesday. The airports will continue to operate, as thousands of airports do, without control towers.
The FAA previously announced its plans to close towers at the 149 airports over a four-week period starting April 7, as part of automatic federal budget cuts known as sequestration.
Elsewhere in Georgia, the airport tower in Albany is set to lose funding May 5, while towers at airports in Macon and Athens will lose funding April 21.
The FAA said “we have worked to ensure that the airport environment remains safe as we make the transition.” It also said airports have a choice of whether to operate as a non-towered airport or to discuss with the FAA the option of providing tower services as a non-federal control tower. The decision “will most likely affect what happens with the existing tower structure and the equipment inside,” according to the FAA.
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