LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic Universe-Document

LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic

March 9, 2000, Thursday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION

SECTION: ST. CLAIR-MONROE POST, Pg. 4

LENGTH: 471 words

HEADLINE: ST. LOUIS REGIONAL AIRPORT FACES FUNDING CUTOFF FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWERS;
AIRPORT HANDLES 80,000 TAKEOFFS AND LANDINGS A YEAR;
"THAT'S A LOT OF FLYING AROUND"

BYLINE: Terry Hillig; Of The Post-Dispatch

DATELINE: BETHALTO

BODY:

Concerns about a threatened cutoff of Federal Aviation Administration funding for the St. Louis Regional Airport could be resolved as early as today or Friday, according to a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello.

Costello, D-Belleville, urged the FAA to rescind plans to cut funding for 86 air traffic control towers nationwide and seven in Illinois, including St. Louis Regional, Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale and Williamson County Regional Airport in Marion.

The FAA has faced a budget shortage since the federal fiscal year began Oct. 1. Congress gave the agency some $ 140 million less than the Clinton Administration proposed for fiscal 2000. Recently, the FAA announced it would consider stopping funding April 1 for 86 of the 186 air traffic control towers staffed by private companies under contract. During a committee hearing last week, Costello said the threatened cuts posed serious financial problems for many airports.

"We have made a commitment to these airports the federal government will be their partner, and this plan would go back on that commitment," he said. "It is not fair to the users of those facilities nor to the taxpayers who have paid into the Aviation Trust Fund for service at small and large airports."

Costello has urged FAA Administrator Jane Garvey to find savings elsewhere in the agency's budget. Costello spokesman Brian Lott said a House-Senate conference committee is also wrapping up work on legislation that would reauthorize funding for the country's various aviation programs and includes funding increases for small and medium-sized airports. Lott said Costello has urged the Senate to pass the House bill.

Lott said there has been a nationwide outcry over the proposed cuts.

"Proponents of the tower program have been very vocal about what cuts like these would do to their operations," he said. "The FAA has gotten the message and, the hope is, they'll respond."

Marion Richardson, manager of St. Louis Regional Airport, said the airport needs controllers to handle the number of operations and the types of aircraft that use it. The airport has about 80,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

"That's a lot of flying around," Richardson said. "We would have to figure out a way to fund the tower."

Having air traffic controllers is "sort of like having a fire department," Richardson said. "You never know when there will be a fire, but it's good to have it around."

The FAA has provided controllers to many of the nation's airports for decades. About six years ago, the FAA went to private contractors at many smaller airports.

At St. Louis Regional, the tower is staffed by Midwest Air Traffic Control Service Inc. of New Century, Kan. Richardson said airport management has been "extremely pleased" with the controllers' work.

LOAD-DATE: March 9, 2000