149 airports will be losing their air traffic control towers, according to CNN.com.
The Federal Aviation Administration told airports on Friday, that it will be closing the towers in an effort to make $637 million dollars in mandatory spending cuts. However, 40 other towers will be allowed to stay on operation.
Starting April 7, the towers will be systematically shut down over a four-week period. The decision to spare 40 towers came after discussions with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. The FAA also viewed appeals from various airports.
Among the airports experiencing tower closures will be Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport in Ithaca New York; Whiteman Airport in Los Angeles, California; and Page Field Airport in Fort Meyers, Florida.
According to CNN, other airports in Fredrick, Maryland and St. Petersburg, Florida will also be shut down. The airports were funded by stimulus money from the federal government and have not been open for a full year.
The National Air Traffic Association pointed the finger at lawmakers in Washington D.C. for the closing of the towers.
"Ultimately, the partisan posturing in Washington that led to sequestration is the reason for (Friday's) decision and its destructive effects on aviation," said the NATCA in a statement, according to CNN. "These towers serve other important functions -- including law enforcement activity, medical transport flights, search and rescue missions, business and commerce and supporting flight schools across America."
According to Forbes.com, many people have compared the loss of the towers to the sudden loss of stoplights in a city. Doug Lewis, Air Traffic manager at Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, said the only way to ensure safety is to have someone in the towers.
"If I or my guys were in the tower, you can bet your ass it would be safe," he told Forbes. "That's about 1,000 jobs around the country. We are terminated. Our jobs are done."
However, according to Jean Medina of Airlines for America, which "calls itself the trade organization of the principal U.S. airlines," according to Forbes; airlines do not need towers to operate.
FAA administrator Michael Huerta said the agency "will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports," according to CNN.
Sen. June Thune, R-South Dakota, and Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to Secretory of Transportation Roy LaHood, asking for an explanation as to how each tower was chosen. Thune is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; Shuster is the chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Neither LaHood or the FAA have responded to the letter, according to CNN.
