Reversing a decision made in mid March of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (\u201cFAA\u201d) announced this afternoon that 149 air traffic control towers, including the tower at the Yakima Air Terminal, will not be closed.<\/p>\n
The Yakima air traffic control tower is one of the towers, most of which are located at smaller airports, that the FAA had slated for closure in order to meet its cost cutting requirements as part of the federal sequester \u2013 the budget reduction measures that began being made on March 1st<\/sup> because of a stalemate between the Congress and President Obama.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are obviously pleased that the FAA has decided to keep the Yakima Air Terminal control tower open,\u201d said Yakima Air Terminal Interim Airport Manager Rob Peterson.\u00a0 \u201cBased on the FAA\u2019s previous decision, we had developed contingency plans to accommodate the anticipated closure of the tower so that airport operations would not have been significantly altered.\u00a0 However, now we can move forward without needing to implement those plans and operate the Yakima Air Terminal as normal,\u201d said Peterson.<\/p>\n Four other air traffic control towers in Washington State that the FAA had previously decided to close as a result of the federal sequester will also now remain open. Those towers are located at the OlympiaRegionalAirport, Felts Field in Spokane, TacomaNarrowsAirport, and the RentonMunicipalAirport.<\/p>\n – end –<\/p>\n