The Expected Closure Of The Tower AT The Tweed/New Haven Regional Airport (HVN), BY The FAA

DATE: March 26, 2013
Contact:
Oswin Moore
AFCO AvPORTS Management LLC
45025 Aviation Drive, Suite 100, Dulles International Airport,
Dulles, VA 20166 USA
Tel: 703.902.1182 | Fax 703.902.2901

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATEMENT AVPORTS RE: THE EXPECTED CLOSURE OF THE TOWER AT THE TWEED/NEW HAVEN REGIONAL AIRPORT (HVN), BY THE FAA
Dulles VA — David Grizzle, Chief Operating Officer of the FAA Air Traffic Organization (ATO) convened a conference call this morning (March 25, 2013) to discuss the FAA's timeline for responding to the mandatory sequestration budget cuts. Participating on the call were representative bodies of the Aviation Industry including ACI-NA, AAAE, NASAO and the U.S. Contract Tower Association. Grizzle called this an "unprecedented scenario" and indicated that the FAA was planning as if the new budget levels represent "the new normal" for air traffic control operations.
AFCO AvPORTS Management LLC, (“AvPORTS”), the contracted operator and manager of the Tweed/New Haven Airport on behalf of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority (“TNHAA”), wishes to assure the traveling public and all the other stakeholders of the HVN that, with the cooperation of the TNHAA, it is taking all the proper and necessary steps to ensure the Airport’s continued safe and secure operation during the period of closure of the control tower and for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, AvPORTS wishes to provide the public with the following additional information by way of a summary and an update:
 _The control tower at HVN is being operated by Midwest Air Traffic Control, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas.
 _Midwest Air Traffic Control has additional contract tower operations in ten (10) other states.
 _The current operational hours of the HVN control tower are from 6AM – 10PM, 7 days per week.
 _The FAA Timeline for the closure of the tower at HVN is May 5, 2013.
 _There is an established protocol for the safe operation of airports that do not have their own control towers; and, using that protocol, HVN will remain open for business during the closure of the tower and for the foreseeable future.
 _To ensure the continued safe operation of HVN, AvPORTS is already training its employees to provide all the weather reports needed by pilots in the absence of the control tower. Further; aircraft will be required to communicate directly with the nearest main FAA Terminal Radar Control Facility (“TRACON”) located in Garden City, NY, for takeoff and landing clearances and instructions
 _US Airways has indicated it does not have any planned changes in service as a result of this development.

AvPORTS wishes to thank all concerned for their understanding and patience during this period

Tweed appeals sequester cuts to air traffic controllers

Tuesday, March 12, 2013
By Mark Zaretsky mzaretsky@nhregister.com / Twitter: @markzar
NEW HAVEN — Tweed New Haven Regional Airport and the city of New Haven have appealed the Federal Aviation Administration's decision, as part of the national budget sequester, to cut funds for air traffic controllers at Tweed's control tower, citing several ways in which maintaining them is in the national interest.  They filed the appeal along with a letter of support from Connecticut's two U.S. senators, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3.  Among other things, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Chairman Mark Volchek cited Tweed's proximity to a Tier 1 trauma center in Yale-New Haven Hospital, its role in bringing veterans in for treatment at the West Haven Veteran Affairs Medical Center and the role of Tweed controllers in directing air traffic in the busy New York region.  Tweed, which straddles the New Haven-East Haven border, is one of six smaller Connecticut airports that are on a list of airports across the nation that would lose their controllers as part of sequester-related cuts.  The others are Bridgeport's Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Hartford Brainard Airport, Groton-New London Airport, Waterbury-Oxford Airport and Danbury Municipal Airport. All of the other airports would lose their controllers, but none have commercial service.  Of the airports on a proposed list for contract tower closure, "Tweed is one of the only airports in the country within 3 miles of a Tier 1 trauma center, Yale-New Haven Hospital," they wrote. "Over 400 documented air ambulance movements a year arrive at Tweed en route to Yale-New Haven Hospital, in addition to frequent organ transplant deliveries."  In addition, "of the airports on the proposed list for Contract Tower closure, Tweed is the only airport in the five New England states with scheduled commercial airline passenger service," DeStefano and Volchek wrote, referring to Tweed's US Airways Express service to Philadelphia.  "The proposed action jeopardizes the legacy air carrier's national flight schedule, routing and aircraft deployment," they wrote. "Retaining a Contract Tower at Tweed could avert a negative impact on one of the legacy passenger airlines."  Tweed also has provided air access to Federal officials in five declared national emergencies in the past three years," Volchek and DeStefano wrote in a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.  "For instance, after hurricanes Irene and Sandy, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FEMA officials flew in and out of Tweed repeatedly because all other Connecticut iarports on the shoreline were flooded," they wrote. "Tweed's climate resilience is directly related to substantial FAA investment of over $42 million in the last decade to upgrade the infrastructure."  Blumenthal has said in a conversation last week, US Airways CEO Doug Parker offered "some measure of reassurance" that US Airways, at least to start, would continue to serve Tweed even if the control tower closes. But he said he knows "for sure that closing the control tower will impede if not stop any expansion of flights that are necessary to really to drive the economic engine of the entire New Haven area."  The three federal legislators, in another letter to Huerta, expressed "deep concern about the slated closure of the air traffic control tower at Tweed New Haven, along with five additional general aviation control towers throughout the State of Connecticut."  They said the closures "will put at risk public safety in and around the airspace of Connecticut and the local economies that rely on these facilitates for tax revenue and jobs."  With regard to Tweed, "public health could be at significant risk should this tower close," they wrote. "The Tweed tower services Yale-New Haven Hospital, not just for organ donation flights, but also for the Hospital’s helipad. We have been told by local officials that the 'Life Star' flights to and from this helipad for medical emergencies could be affected if the tower were to close.  "Tweed also has a relationship with a number of not-for-profit organizations that fly injured veterans from around the country to the nearby West Haven Veterans Affairs facility for treatment," they wrote. "Moreover, the Tweed tower is a filter for air traffic going into and out of New York's airports as it services the airspace — some of the busiest in the nation — in Long Island Sound and lower Connecticut."  Over the years, "the FAA has invested heavily in the Tweed Airport with grants totaling over $70 million for improvements throughout the airport," DeLauro, Murphy and Blumenthal wrote. "During Hurricane Sandy, when the Sikorsky and Groton/New London airports were underwater, Tweed went unscathed and was able to accept air traffic diverted from other airports."  Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722.
URL: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2013/03/12/news/new_haven/doc513f9dcb557c0423343002.prt
© 2013 nhregister.com, a Journal Register Property

US Airways to keep flying at New Haven's Tweed airport if tower closes, Blumenthal says

Saturday, March 9, 2013
By Mark Zaretsky mzaretsky@nhregister.com @markzar on Twitter
NEW HAVEN — US Airways will continue flying to and from Tweed New Haven Regional Airport even if Tweed loses its air traffic controllers and has to close its control tower as a result of the federal budget sequester, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Friday.  But with Tweed the only New England airport with commercial service on the Federal Aviation Administration’s list of airports that would lose their controllers on April 7, Connecticut’s federal delegation, Tweed officials and Mayor John DeStefano Jr. are not about to sit back and watch the proposed cuts go into effect. 

In fact, Tweed is in the process of drafting its appeal, which it expects to file Monday, said Tim Larson, executive director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority, at a press conference Friday afternoon.

Blumenthal, U.S. Sen Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Mayor John DeStefano Jr. — who flanked Larson at the press conference —all offered reasons Friday why Tweed’s tower should remain open, as did U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, who was on her way back from Washington.

“Shutting down Tweed is bad for the economy, it’s bad for public safety and it’s bad for public health, and it speaks to the insanity of the way that we are running our government today,” said Murphy. “The fact is that we are cutting off our nose to spite our face by trying to gain some measure of deficit reduction by cutting the very accounts that grow the economy.

“You can’t grow the economy in this country if you’re shutting down airports, if you’re shutting down Head Start classrooms, if you’re laying off teachers and firefighters and policemen,” Murphy said.

He vowed that when the Senate begins to debate its version of a continuing resolution the House of Representatives passed that restores some of the automatic sequester cuts but not others, restoring the cuts to airports like Tweed and five others in Connecticut will be among the things he pushes for.

“We’re going to make an argument ... to reverse some of the worst cuts that were in sequestration,” Murphy said. Tweed “is probably the worst of the planned closures because you’ve got commercial service here and you’ve got a $20 million-plus multiplier for the economy. But the cuts to the other airports are just as devastating.”

The others he referred to were Bridgeport’s Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Hartford Brainard Airport, Groton-New London Airport, Waterbury-Oxford Airport and Danbury Municipal Airport. All of the other airports would lose their controllers, but none have commercial service.

Blumenthal said that while his conversation with US Airways CEO Doug Parker provides “some measure of reassurance,” he knows “for sure that closing the control tower will impede if not stop any expansion of flights that are necessary to really to drive the economic engine of the entire New Haven area.

“And in fact, Tweed is a $22 million economic engine right now, with potential for expanding,” Blumenthal said.

Parker told Blumenthal that “US Air will continue the present level of service for the present time,” but “what happens in the longer term future, no one can predict,” Blumenthal said.

DeStefano said that while the appeal, which must be filed by Wednesday and will be ruled on by March 18, has to be based on national interests, “this is not a national interest argument.

“This city and its taxpayers have invested millions of dollars in this facility, expecting that we were going to have an airport,” DeStefano said. “We have contracts with the federal administration that obligated us to spend money. They spent money, and now it’s game change.

“At the end of the day, name a first-class city, a competitive city that you know that doesn’t have good air service,” DeStefano said. “It just doesn’t exist.

DeLauro, who could not get back from Washington in time to attend the press conference, said in a written statement that cuts associated with sequestration could “not only cost the people who work at Tweed their jobs, but have a ripple effect” on the local economy.

“The decision is not final so we will continue fighting it every step of the way,” DeLauro said. “These are not abstract problems. Every person who loses their job has a mortgage, or a car payment, or a family to provide for. Time is of the essence. People’s livelihoods are at stake.”

Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722.

FAA Letter From Blumenthal Murphy DeLauro by  

Tweed New Haven, 5 other Connecticut airports will lose their air traffic controllers because of sequester

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
By Mark Zaretsky mzaretsky@nhregister.com @markzar on Twitter
NEW HAVEN — Tweed New Haven Regional Airport and five other Connecticut airports will lose their air traffic controllers on April 7 as part of Federal Aviation Administration cuts related to the federal sequester, members of the state’s Congressional delegation said Wednesday.  That’s assuming no resolution is reached in the federal political standoff.  Federal funding for the air traffic control towers at Sikorsky Memorial, Danbury Municipal, Groton-New London, Hartford-Brainard, Tweed New Haven and Waterbury-Oxford airports may be terminated on April 7, the Federal Aviation Administration told Connecticut lawmakers, the seven-member delegation said in a joint press release.  “We will continue our efforts to reverse the sequester and work toward a bipartisan compromise that will avoid these arbitrary across-the-board cuts that threaten to cause job losses in industries throughout the Connecticut economy,” the statement said.  U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the delegation plans to appeal the decisions — and thinks it has a particularly good case with regard to Tweed, which is growing both in terms of commercial service and employment.  “We still have hope that perhaps the decision about Tweed and the other airports in Connecticut can be reversed,” Blumenthal said, “and we’re working as a team to seek a bipartisan solution that can avert this very tragic and preventable impact on people who work at the airports and the communities that will be very significantly harmed.”  Blumenthal added, “There may be a means to appeal it, especially to Tweed, where clearly there is burgeoning commercial traffic and a growing customer base, not to mention 120 jobs” at stake, both at the airport itself and in related industries.  U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, said, “This was a manufactured crisis. It didn’t have to happen ... There was no need to do this.”  But House Speaker John Boehner has made it clear in past statements that cuts are just what are needed.  “At some point Washington has to deal with its spending problem,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said during a recent Capitol news conference. “Now, I’ve watched them kick this can down the road for 22 years that I’ve been here. I’ve had enough of it! It’s time to act.”  While Republicans “may not be the majority party here in Washington ... the American people would agree with us on this, and we’re going to continue to stand with the American people,” he said.  Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Tim Larson said Tweed officials found out late Tuesday afternoon and plan to meet with key vendors and other players on Thursday “to begin preparing our appeal.”  Besides the airport’s own attributes, “New Haven has some very interesting characteristics that others don’t,” — including presence of two hospitals and an FBI office in downtown New Haven, Larson said.  The airports have until next Wednesday to appeal.  Of the six airports that would lose their control towers, Tweed is the only one that currently has commercial air service. It also is the only Connecticut airport with commercial service besides Bradley International in Windsor Locks.  Bradley is not on the list, although it’s likely to be affected by the nationwide air traffic slowdown that experts predict will result from sequester cuts.  Whether Tweed’s air service would continue with the control tower closed would be up to US Airways, which flies four daily flights each way between Tweed and Philadephia, officials have said. The airline has declined to comment.  Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
URL: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2013/03/06/news/doc5137a2868196e246733467.prt
© 2013 nhregister.com, a Journal Register Property

Congressional Delegation Fears Cutbacks At Tweed New Haven And Other CT Airports Are Getting Closer; Impact Could Start On April 7

by CHRISTOPHER KEATING on MARCH 6, 2013
As negotiators are still trying to reach a compromise to avoid upcoming federal budget cuts, the potential reductions are getting closer that could impact Connecticut’s six small airports.
Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks would not be cut, but the second busiest airport in the state – Tweed New Haven -and five others could be facing cuts as soon as Sunday, April 7.
The state’s Congressional delegation was notified Wednesday by the Federal Aviation Administration that money for the air traffic controllers at the airports – Sikorsky Memorial, Danbury Municipal, Groton-New London, Hartford-Brainard, and Waterbury-Oxford – could be eliminated under the controversial federal budget process known as sequester. Some lawmakers have complained that difficult cuts should be avoided because this round of cuts represents $85 billion in a $3.6 trillion federal budget – a tiny percentage of the overall total.
“All of our [small] airports are going to be virtually closed to commercial traffic, severely curtailed in their service, to the extraordinary detriment of workers and our communities,” Blumenthal told Capitol Watch in a telephone interview. “So we’re going to work as effectively as possible, as a team, to reverse these decisions. There’s a good argument that Tweed, for example, is an airport with very, very significant prospects for growth and expansion, and economically will be very irreparably impeded in that growth.’’
Tweed was on the original list of about 200 airports that could be impacted, but lawmakers have not yet been told why Tweed is now on the shorter list of those that could be impacted.
“That is the elephant in the room. Why Tweed?’’ Blumenthal asked. “Why should Tweed be curtailed or closed? We want to know which airports are spared and not Tweed. So far, there’s no adequate explanation. I am more than a little dissatisfied. We want the numbers, such as the amount of employees [at each airport], which so far, we don’t have. If Tweed has been sacrificed, as compared to a less busy or promising airport, we want to know why.’’
Blumenthal did not know the precise impact at each airport because sometimes planes land in the middle of the night at smaller airports when no one is in the control tower. Unlike those in major American cities, the smaller airports do not have 24-hour coverage. Landing is often left up to the discretion of the pilot.
“Certainly, there’s an impact on safety,” Blumenthal said. “Whether flights are permissible, certainly safety is jeopardized. We’re asking exactly that question. Namely, whether flights will be permitted if the control towers are closed. Each of the airports may present a different situation.’’
“This move, which is entirely preventable, will have a direct impact on the residents employed by these airports who could lose their jobs, the local economies that rely on these facilities and the safety of our airports,” the seven-member delegation said in a statement. “We will continue our efforts to reverse the sequester and work toward a bipartisan compromise that will avoid these arbitrary, across-the-board cuts that threaten to cause job losses in industries throughout the Connecticut economy.”

Senators Travel To Tweed Airport To Express Concern About Federal Budget Cuts

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING

ckeating@courant.com

The Hartford Courant

11:32 PM EST, March 1, 2013
NEW HAVEN

— Connecticut's two U.S. senators traveled to Tweed New Haven Airport on Friday to express their opposition to any federal budget cuts that might hurt the airport, including the possible furlough of air traffic controllers.
The senators oppose the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that could be forthcoming across the country because Congress and President Barack Obama missed Friday's deadline for a deal on budget reductions.
But based on the complicated federal budget-cutting process, no furloughs are expected for at least one month at the nation's airports, and Tweed could be spared if other airports are chosen for cuts. If a deal is reached, the cuts will be averted.
Tweed is on a list released by the federal transportation secretary of about 200 airports nationwide that might be affected by budget cuts. Of those, 100 might be chosen for cuts if Congress fails to reach a deal, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
If there is any disruption at Tweed, that would push more traffic to nearby airports like LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International in New York City.
"There will be long lines,'' Blumenthal predicted. "There will be canceled flights.''
Blumenthal and others said that one of the biggest problems with the budget impasse is that businesses find it difficult to make investments when the federal government can't solve its fiscal problems.
"The great enemy is uncertainty and confusion,'' he said. "This round of arbitrary, automatic cuts threatens to thrust us back into the winter of economic downturn.''
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, who stood near Blumenthal inside the Tweed terminal, said the problem can still be avoided.
"Here's the bottom line. These are dumb cuts,'' Murphy said. "These are thoughtless cuts, and they ought to be reversed. The impact on our economy, over time, could be catastrophic. … First and foremost, Washington needs to stop legislating crisis by crisis. People are tired of fiscal cliff after fiscal crisis after fiscal cliff. A lot of people I talk to aren't even paying attention to this crisis because they're just sure there's going to be another one one month from now or two months from now.''
Tweed, owned by the city of New Haven, has 60 full-time and 60 part-time employees who live mainly in the surrounding towns. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano stepped to the lectern at the news conference and asked Tweed workers to step forward. He then asked some of them where they live, and they mentioned places like East Haven, Middlefield, and New Haven.
"This doesn't make sense,'' DeStefano said of the potential cuts.
The cuts represent $85 billion out of an overall federal budget of $3.8 trillion, a tiny percentage of the total. Some major federal programs, including Social Security, veterans benefits, military salaries, and food stamps, are exempt from the cuts.
Since the cuts would be phased in, the passage of Friday's deadline did not mean there would be an immediate impact.
"This will not hit the nation like a brick wall on Saturday,'' Murphy said.
Whether any cuts would reach Tweed is still unknown, and the same is true at the state's top defense contractors. Those include Groton-based Electric Boat, which makes submarines; Stratford-based Sikorsky, which makes helicopters; and East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney, which makes airplane engines. Spokesmen for those firms said this week that they are closely watching the developments in Washington, D.C.
The fiscal crisis has been marked by widespread fingerpointing as Obama blames the Republicans, and the Republicans blame Obama and the Democrats.
Blumenthal, Murphy and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, were asked, since no deal has been reached, why they were holding a news conference in New Haven when they could be working through the weekend on the problem in Washington D.C.
"We called over and over again to stay — not to leave — that we would work around the clock,'' said DeLauro, a Democrat who serves in the Republican-controlled House. "The speaker of the House, Mr. Boehner, said, 'Congress is adjourned for the weekend. You go home.' People would have gladly stayed and worked through trying to do something. We do not control the agenda. We don't control the calendar. That is in the purview of the other party.''
At the state level, House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey said he will remain in close contact with the congressional delegation before considering any possible moves.
"It's premature to some degree right now,'' Sharkey said. "We certainly need to be mindful and watchful. There are also questions about how long is this going to last. … If this is a minor, seven-day or 10-day phenomenon and then they wake up in Washington and act like adults and get this done, then I'm not sure the impact will be that great. We'll have to see how Washington behaves over the course of the next couple of weeks.''

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