Groton-New London Air Traffic Controllers Can Breathe Easy Until October

Air traffic controllers at Groton-New London airport do not have to worry about the security of their jobs through the summer.

The jobs were at risk as part of Congress’s sequestration cuts and they have been secured for the rest of the fiscal year after a congressional action last week allowed the Federal Aviation Administration use $253 million from its own trust fund, according to an article on ctpost.com.

Air traffic controllers at 149 small airports were scheduled to be laid off under the government cutbacks, including six at Connecticut airports: Danbury Municipal Airport, Hartford’s Brainard Airport, Tweed Airport in New Haven, the Waterbury-Oxford Airport and another in Bridgeport and the Groton-New London Airport.

The $253 million will pay for salaries until the next fiscal year begins, which is Oct. 1. State lawmakers aren’t sure what will happen next. U. S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal told reporters at CT New Junkie,

“These are control towners are not a luxury, they are vital to air traffic safety.”