Sequestration affects Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations in different ways. In anticipation of the sequester cuts, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta issued a joint letter on February 22, 2013, announcing cost-cutting measures under consideration including furloughs for most FAA employees, elimination of late-night shifts in as many as 72 air traffic control facilities, and the complete closure of up to 238 control towers at airports that have fewer than 150,000 flight operations or fewer than 10,000 commercial operations per year. On April 5, 2013, citing a need for additional time to address multiple legal challenges to its tower closure decisions, FAA delayed the closures and set June 15, 2013, as the date it would cease funding the 149 FCT program towers. On May 1, 2013, following a week of FAA air traffic controller furloughs that contributed to some isolated air traffic system delays, particularly at the nation's busiest airports, the Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013 ( P.L. 113-9 ) was enacted. While this action appears to have settled debate over the pending closure of control towers in FY2013, long-range plans for tower closures, cutbacks in operating hours, or both may be revisited in future policy debates regarding the FAA budget. Air Traffic Control Tower Funding

In general, the funding and operation of civil air traffic control towers in the United States and U.S. territories fall into one of four categories: (1) tower operations funded through FAA's operations budget and staffed with federal air traffic controllers; (2) contract tower operations fully funded through FAA's operations budget but staffed with controllers employed by the contractor under the federal contract tower (FCT) program (also known as the contract tower base program); (3) contract tower operations partially funded through the FAA's operations budget and partially funded by local or state government funding and managed and staffed by contractor personnel, referred to as the contract tower cost-share program; and (4) non-federal control towers that receive no funding from the federal government and are staffed with non-federal controllers. Several of the towers listed have radar approach capabilities. FAA's Benefit-to-Cost Methodology

Historically, FAA has relied on a formal benefit-to-cost assessment process for establishing and discontinuing air traffic control tower operations. The analysis yields a single benefit-to-cost ratio which serves as FAA's criterion for determining whether a tower should be established or discontinued: If the ratio is greater than or equal to one, a recommendation to establish a tower may be made, whereas if the ratio falls below one, an existing tower would be subject to closure, to continuation under the cost-share program, or to conversion to a non-federal control tower if a local entity is willing to assume the costs. Currently, all airport towers in the contract tower program have benefit-to-cost ratios greater than or equal to one under FAA's valuation methodology, except for the 16 cost-share towers where local communities contribute to fund costs that outweigh the benefits, up to 20% of the total cost. The quantified benefits include prevention of collisions between aircraft, prevention of other accidents, and benefits from reduced flight time. While the impact of tower closures on individual operators' efficiency is relatively small, tower closures can also be viewed as having a negative cumulative impact on energy and the environment by increasing aircraft fuel burn, emissions, and noise as a result of these extended flying times, assuming flight activity remains constant after closure of the tower. A tower closure would not preclude commercial air service, but it could affect airlines' decisions regarding whether to reduce or eliminate service to an airport. Also, tower closures may affect private and business aircraft operators' decisions regarding where to base and to operate their aircraft, and could result in the diversion of some general aviation traffic from designated reliever airports to busier commercial airports. Related Legislation

S.Amdt. 45 , amending H.R. The measure would not protect contract towers from budget reductions beyond FY2013 and does not address possible closures of FAA-staffed towers. Subsequently, S. 687 was introduced on April 9, 2013. Due to budget limitations, a requirement for additional staffing at certain towers could result in a larger number of towers closing.
Budgetary flexibility enacted under the Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013 (P.L. 113-9) has permitted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to cancel plans to close 149 air traffic control towers operated by contractors, a measure it had proposed to address funding decreases brought about by the budget sequester. On March 22, 2013, FAA announced the planned tower closures. The closures were originally planned for April 2013, but the closure was pushed back to June 2013 and then abandoned due to receipt of new authority in P.L. 113-9 allowing funds to be transferred from other FAA accounts to FAA operations. FAA had also named 72 air traffic control facilities that would cease operations late at night as a cost-saving measure, but elimination of FAA controller furloughs subsequent to passage of P.L. 113-9 led FAA to cancel these plans as well.
Roughly 10% of U.S. airports have operating control towers, although many towers close at night when flight activity is low. Closure of a tower does not mean closure of an airport: At airports where no tower is operating, pilots use established traffic patterns and procedures to avoid other aircraft. The towers that were slated for closure have no radar approach control capabilities and perform air traffic separation functions using procedures for visual flight. These airports can handle aircraft in poor weather on a limited basis, but unlike airports with radar approach control they cannot handle multiple aircraft on approach in low visibility and clouds.
About half of the roughly 500 towers in the United States are operated by private firms under contract to FAA. Sixteen of the contract towers are partially funded through local (non-federal) shares of up to 20%, while 235, including the 149 identified for closure, have been fully funded by FAA. The cost-share towers are currently partially funded through a separate federal appropriation that is subject to the 5.3% sequester cut, but they were not slated to be closed in FY2013. A tower scheduled to close could be converted to a non-federal tower if a local community were willing to fully fund the tower's operation. Non-federal towers are still regulated, but not funded, by FAA.
FAA has historically relied on a benefit-to-cost ratio methodology for establishing and discontinuing air traffic control tower operations. This methodology quantifies the safety and efficiency benefits of a tower in reducing aircraft collisions and other accidents and reducing flight times, and identifies established towers for possible closure or conversion to cost-share or non-federal towers if their benefit-to-cost ratio falls below one. However, all towers identified for closure under the sequestration cuts have benefit-to-cost ratios greater than one. Long-term tower closures would have relatively small but measureable impacts on safety and efficiency, and could cause a shift in both commercial and general aviation traffic to busier airports where towers remain open, depending on how airlines and other aircraft operators respond.
Legislation to maintain federal control tower funding and a measure to increase tower staffing at busy airports are under consideration in the 113th Congress. S. 687 would prohibit the closure of any air traffic control tower in FY2013 and FY2014. S.Amdt. 45 had sought to maintain funding for the FAA contract towers to prevent their closure, but was not considered on the floor in the Senate. H.R. 66, pending in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, would increase staffing minimums for towers at busier commercial airports, which could put additional fiscal pressures on FAA to close low-activity towers or reduce their operating hours.