FAA Extends McCollum Tower Closure Date

The Federal Aviation Administration has pushed back the date that it will cut funding to the air traffic control tower at Kennesaw's McCollum Field, the agency announced on Friday.

The new date is June 15. That's more than one month after the original May 5 date announced in late March.

“This has been a complex process and we need to get this right,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “Safety is our top priority. We will use this additional time to make sure communities and pilots understand the changes at their local airports.” 

The McCollum tower is one of 149 regional airport towers that the FAA decided to close as part of a plan to meet $637 million in cuts required under budget sequestration.

To be clear, McCollum Field will not close. Instead, planes will have to "rely on plane-to-plane communications in order to land" at McCollum, airport manager Karl Von Hagel told the Marietta Daily Journal last month.

Funding was scheduled to cease for 24 contract towers on Sunday, 46 contract towers on April 21, and the remaining 79 contract towers on May 5. That phased closure process will no longer occur. Instead, the FAA will stop funding all 149 towers on June 15.

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