- April 24, 2024
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The Ormond Beach Municipal Airport's control tower will be among 149 receiving enough funds to stay open.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
It will be business as usual for the Ormond Beach Municipal Airport.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced May 10, that the Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013 will provide sufficient funds for the Federal Aviation Administration to keep the 149 low-activity contract towers open, including Ormond Beach’s, as well as end employee furloughs.
Congress passed the bill April 26, and provided the FAA with more than $200 million. However, at the time it was uncertain how that money would be allocated.
The city's tower, along with the other 148, was originally scheduled to close April 7, but a legal battle had ensured the tower would remain open until at least June 15, while lawyers for the cities affected and the federal government presented briefs to a court.
It was the legal action Ormond Beach officials took, according to Mayor Ed Kelley, that contributed to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s announcement.
“I think it was the effort that we made,” he said. “I think we were probably one of the leaders to file against the FAA. I think the action we took then prompted everything leading up to this.”
The funds will keep all 149 airport towers open through the end of the 2013 fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Transportation said in its statement. Additionally, $10 million will be put toward reducing cuts and delays to other FAA programs, and approximately $11 million will benefit infrastructure in the national airspace system.
The city’s lobbying efforts to keep the tower open included City Commissioners Troy Kent and Bill Partington meeting with congressional representatives while on a trip to Washington D.C.
The commissioners returned from the trip optimistic, but the fate of the city’s control tower remained in federal court after cities agreed to drop an emergency stay in favor of legal briefs filed by both sides.
The Ormond Beach control tower was among the 149 scheduled to be closed because it had fallen below FAA’s cutoff of 150,000 operations per year.
