Furloughs, Control Tower Closures Promise to Slow Air System
Jim Burress / WABE News
Five air traffic control towers in Georgia will close next month due to across the board federal spending cuts know as sequestration.
They are: McCullom Field in Kennesaw, Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville, and Southwest Georgia Regional in Albany. Each handles primarily business and general aviation traffic.
Airport towers in Macon and Athens will also close. And while they too primarily handle business and general aviation traffic, the airports also support regularly-scheduled commercial flights. 
Commercial traffic can still take off and land without an operational tower. Pilots will just perform takeoffs and landings using different procedures.
But for passengers?
“The best thing I can say for passengers is go buy ‘War and Peace’ and take your time reading it,” says Jim Marinitti, an air traffic controller in Miami and NATCA union official. “We have to slow down the system efficiency and capacity to maintain safety.”
Even with slowdowns, he says the skies will remain safe despite the furloughs and tower closures.
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