Call for regional air traffic control consolidation draws criticism from Gillibrand

A recent recommendation from the National Facilities Realignment and Consolidation Report to relocate some air traffic control operations currently at the Greater Binghamton and Elmira Corning Regional airports to Scranton-Wilkes Barre has drawn a warning from U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) about what this could mean for the Southern Tier.

Announcing her call on the Federal Aviation Administration Tuesday, Gillibrand said, “The Binghamton and Elmira-Corning airports are invaluable assets to the Southern Tier. It would be a detrimental loss to the region if the FAA were to follow through on the recent recommendations to relocate vital ATC operations to Pennsylvania. This would put good Southern Tier jobs at risk and would also result in the loss of regional expertise that our local air controllers have built over the years. Binghamton and Elmira-Corning’s air controllers keep our air space safe, and I am urging the FAA the reconsider this consolidation.”

If implemented, the air traffic control change would only apply to TRACON operations outside of the local control perimeter at each airport, leaving local air traffic control operations for within the perimeter in tact. About half of the air controllers would lose their jobs, according to the report.

Along with the loss of about $1 million in salaries per year, Gillibrand noted that there would be a loss of institutional knowledge of the regional airspace; that the savings would be less than predicted due to the retention of local control at the existing towers; and that upgrades recently implemented at both facilities are already making operations as efficient as they would be if relocated.

Gillibrand shared her concerns in a letter sent to FAA Acting Director Daniel K. Elwell.