FAA to close towers at six Connecticut airports

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) - The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday it will be closing contract control towers at six Connecticut airports as a way to save money because of the sequestration.

The list includes:

• Brainard Airport, Hartford (HFD)
• Danbury Municipal Airport, Danbury (DXR)
• Groton-New London Airport, Groton (GON)
• Sikorsky Memorial Airport, Stratford (BDR)
• Tweed-New Haven Airport, New Haven (HVN)
• Waterbury-Oxford, Oxford (OXC)

Overall the FAA will close towers at 149 airports nationwide.

In a news release , Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Unfortunately we are faced with a series of difficult choices that we have to make to reach the required cuts under sequestration.”

“We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in the statement.

The FAA will begin the closures on April 7.