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Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport will appeal a decision by the FAA to close its control tower because of across-the-board spending cuts called sequestration.
Tweed is the only airport with commercial service in New England slated to lose its control tower. U.S. Airways flies from New Haven to Philadelphia four times a day.
Tim Larson is Executive Director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority, and a State Representative from East Hartford. He says losing the tower won’t close the airport, but it's harder for pilots to navigate without air traffic controllers.
"They control the flow of take off and landing here at Tweed. We’re on the coastline in CT and there’s sometimes some fog patches that the air traffic controllers actually assist airplanes in getting through some of those difficulties and safely landing."
Larson says Tweed is strategically located and plays a critical economic role in the region.
"Yale University is a big draw and Yale-New Haven Hospital is a big draw for our airport, along with people like Knights of Columbus, the FBI who are located in New Haven, and so forth. We also have the VA hospital in West Haven."
Larson says the airport authority will submit an appeal to the FAA next week.
Tweed is one of six airports in Connecticut on a list to lose their control towers by mid-April because of the federal cuts.
