Control Tower At Cuyahoga County Airport To Remain Open For Now

The Federal Aviation Administration announced that it will delay the closure of all 149 federal air traffic towers, including the tower at the Cuyahoga County Airport, until June 15.

One of the reasons the FAA give for the delay was resolving the multiple legal challenges to the closure decisions.

In March, the FAA had announced that it would close 149 privately owned towers as a result of the $85 billion in federal budget cuts, which are commonly referred to as the sequester.

Initially, the closures were slated to happen on on April 7.

Cuyahoga County was one of the first communities in the nation to file an Emergency Request for Stay of the FAA decision and to file a Petition for Review with the U.S. Court of Appeals.

"We were one of the first and few communities in the nation to take legal action against the FAA’s decision” Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said in a statement.

“The legal challenges brought by Cuyahoga County and other jurisdictions recognized the serious consequences of air traffic tower closures. We appreciate that the FAA has now validated our concerns. We will continue to pursue all legal options and look forward making to our case.”

The airport would have remained open even if the tower had closed.

However, pilots would have had to coordinate their movements among each other without a tower or controllers, according to The Plain Dealer.

Cuyahoga County Airport sits on the border of Highland Heights, Richmond Heights and Willoughby Hills.

It averages 185 flights a day and has only one runway.

The airport has been in business since June 1960.