After a seven- to eight-month delay, the University Park Airport expects operations at its new air-traffic-control tower to begin within weeks, Penn State announced Monday.
Construction on the $3.9 million tower finished last winter, and it was slated to start operations in January.
But federal-budget delays in Washington, D.C., stalled the hiring process for the seven- to eight-member tower staff. With lawmakers deadlocked over the 2010-’11 budget, federal agencies operated under a series of continuing resolutions until the stalemate broke April 15.
The April 15 budget resolution freed up the staff funding for the local traffic-control tower, which was built with a combination of federal, state and local monies.
Since then, according to Penn State, the airport has moved forward to prepare for the tower staff. University spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said the tower staffers, employed by Midwest Air Traffic Control, a federal contractor, have now arrived in the State College area and are readying for air-traffic operations.
‘They’ll have a 30-day break-in period to finalize some paperwork and get organized,’ airport Director Bryan Rodgers said in a news release. ‘And then I expect the tower to be operational and controllers actually controlling air traffic around Sept. 1.’
The federal government’s 2010-’11 budget — including the money for the local traffic-control staff — runs only through Sept. 30. Mountz said the airport’s expectation is that ongoing funding for the staff will be provided in the next federal budget — for 2011-’12 — and in years thereafter.
The new tower is the first at University Park Airport, which opened just outside State College in the 1950s. The tower’s core goal is to bolster safety and efficiency of air travel locally. But it’s also expected to make the airport more attractive to aviation operators and, in turn, to help boost the area’s economy.
Before the tower becomes operational, air traffic at University Park Airport will continue to be managed from New York Center, a base of control operations near New York City. The airport sits on acreage owned by Penn State.
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