As Congress works on the Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) FY 2015 appropriations bill, the organizations listed below urge your support for the following bill language under the FAA "Operations" section that would provide dedicated funding for the Contract Tower Program:
Provided further, That of the funds appropriated under this heading, not less than $149,000,000 shall be for the contract tower program, of which $9,500,000 is for the contract tower cost share program.

Events of the past year have made it abundantly clear that the FAA Contract Tower Program enjoys strong bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. We urge you to dedicate full funding to the program for FY 2015 and extend the bill language that was adopted in the FY 2014 omnibus spending bill.

The FAA Contract Tower Program has provided cost-effective and essential air traffic safety services since 1982. Currently, 252 smaller airports in 46 states participate in the program, including two in Kentucky. Together these 252 towers handle approximately 28 percent of all air traffic control tower (ATCT) aircraft operations in the U.S. but only account for about 14 percent of FAA’s overall budget allotted to ATCT tower operations. More importantly, the safety and efficiency record of the FAA Contract Tower Program has been validated numerous times by the DOT Inspector General, as well as by FAA safety audits.

Click here to read the full text of the letter.