TxDOT to fund control towers slated for closure at 13 small airports

Charter air-travel business planes are seen at the Sugar Land Regional Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010, in Houston. Charter air-travel business planes are seen at the Sugar Land Regional Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010, in Houston. Photo: Julio Cortez, . Photo: Julio Cortez, . Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close TxDOT to fund control towers slated for closure at 13 small airports 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

In response to the federal government's plan to close control towers at 13 small Texas airports, the Texas Department of Transportation announced Thursday it will pick up the slack.

The department said it intends to fund continued service of air traffic controllers at the 13 towers when federal funding stops due to nationwide budget cuts.

The decision must be approved by the Texas Transportation Commission, which is scheduled to meet Thursday in an emergency session.

Last week the Federal Aviation Administration announced it would close 149 air traffic control towers on April 7. Thirteen Texas towers were on the list, including those at Sugar Land and Conroe airports.

"Safety is the primary reason we felt a need to take immediate action for the air travelers and business aircraft that use these airports," Texas Transportation Commissioner Fred Underwood said in a news release.

TxDOT will get the money from existing state aviation funds, said spokesman Mark Cross.

The estimated cost of paying the air traffic controllers is $7 million a year, Cross said.

The initiative for the funding came from Gov. Rick Perry's office, he said.

Politics criticized

Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed, when asked if stepping in to pay for air control staffing weakens arguments by the governor and others against federal spending, said the difference is in where the cuts were made.

"Shutting down White House tours doesn't do anything," she said.

Most of the federal government's spending problem is within entitlements like medical care and Social Security, she said.

"Instead they are shutting down air traffic control towers and letting illegal aliens run free in the street," Nashed said.

Perry, an experienced pilot, believes some airports are vital for community safety, Nashed said. She noted the New Braunfels airport is used for air ambulances, and the Brownsville airport is the only one in the South Texas-Padre Island region.

"We're not going to sit there and play politics with safety," Nashed said.

Other Austin lawmakers said it was Perry who waded into the political mire of the sequester.

"Even when making the correct choice with regard to air traffic control, Governor Perry reflects badly on our state," said Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, in a statement. "No one in Texas is well served by Rick Perry's extreme partisanship and mean-spirited rhetoric. Time and again, Governor Perry displays the same type of Washington-style divisiveness that resulted in the sequester and put these small airports at risk in the first place."

Regional importance

Sugar Land city spokesman Doug Adolph said the proposed TxDOT funding was great news.

"We appreciate the efforts of the state in recognizing the importance of our air traffic control tower and its contributions to the regional economy," Adolph said Thursday.

Although not a done deal and not a permanent solution, the proposal is a step in the right direction, Adolph said.

The Sugar Land Regional Airport handles more than 85,000 takeoffs and landings a year, and last year Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe handled about 62,000, officials said.

Staff writer Dug Begley contributed to this report.