Air Traffic Control Tower Closings Slated at Lewisburg, Wheeling and Parkersburg Airports

The agency said the cuts are necessary to help meet $637 million in forced spending cuts.

The tower closures will begin April 7 and will be phased in over four weeks, FAA Chief Operating Officer David Grizzle said. Some towers were spared after the FAA considered appeals from towers, and consulted with the departments of defense and homeland security.

Among those to be closed are towers at regional airports in Frederick, Maryland, and near St. Petersburg, Florida, that were built with federal stimulus money and have been open less than a year.