Federal authorities have notified several Georgia airports that funds will no longer be available for air traffic control towers.
The Federal Aviation Administration notified Cobb County this week that it would no longer fund on-site traffic control at McCollum Airport in Kennesaw, northwest of Atlanta. The tower is expected to close starting April 7 due to automatic federal budget cuts that took effect March 1.
Airport manager Karl Von Hagel said control towers at six other Georgia airports are preparing to close: Fulton County-Brown Field, Gwinnett County-Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville, Athens-Ben Epps, Columbus Metropolitan, Southwest Georgia Regional in Albany, and Middle Georgia Regional in Macon.
Von Hagel said McCollum Airport will continue to operate, but planes will have to rely on plane-to-plane communications to land.
Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville does not have a manned control tower.
(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
