The FAA announced Friday it will postpone one hundred forty nine contract control tower closures until June.
The Nashua control tower that was expected to close this weekend will be given another two and a half months. The FAA is extending the April 7th date to June 15th in response to several lawsuits. A number of small to midsized airport authorities filed the suits claiming the tower closures represent a violation of federal safety provisions.
“We are gonna plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
Don Davidson is the Chairman of the Nashua Airport Authority. He says he’s ecstatic about the news. But, he says, he will continue meeting with state and local authorities to raise the money needed to keep the tower running if Congress still fails to prevent the closures by June.
“This gives us time to spread that pain out if you will. We are even gonna go to the tenants on the airfield and we’ve had some tenants that have called us and said, ‘how can we help financially?’”
Davidson is scheduled to meet with New Hampshire DOT Commissioner Chris Clement and Nashua Mayor Donnalee Lozeau next week. The airport had agreed Thursday to pay the $34,000 required to keep the tower open for another month. Davidson says that agreement will still be in play come June if a congressional solution is not reached by then.