Federal Budget Cuts Could Shut Down Joplin Airport Control Tower
By: Gretchen Bolander
Updated: February 25, 2013
JOPLIN, MO-- Joplin air travel could be affected by mandatory federal budget cuts. On the list from the Obama administration - closing 238 contract air traffic control towers, including Joplin's. Airport Manager Steve Stockam says closing the tower wouldn't ground operations, but that the impact would be "huge."
Stockam says without air traffic control, there would be an additional level of liability and that pilots would have to take more responsibility to make sure flights stay safe. The Joplin Regional Airport is home to a wide range of flights - everything from commercial and private planes to helicopters and recreational aircraft - all sharing the same airspace.
"In my eyes it makes a huge difference because the mixture of aircraft that I talked about earlier, it just creates a facility that's much safer," added Stockam,
The Joplin tower isn't alone. There are four other Missouri airports that would lose air traffic control. That includes Branson, Columbia, Jefferson City and St. Joseph, leaving only Springfield, KC and St. Louis still in operation after April 1st.
