Workgroup recommends keeping air-traffic ops at Youngstown-Warren Regional

Staff report

COLUMBUS

A Federal Aviation Administration workgroup has recommended continuing with the present air-traffic control operations in the towers at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport while similar operations at the Akron Canton Regional Airport and Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport be moved to Cleveland.

The recommendations will be included in the National Facilities Realignment and Consolidation report, will be published in the Federal Register, then receive public comments, and then be submitted to Congress for approval.

The changes to Akron and Mansfield would most likely take effect in mid- to late 2017, according to a summary of the workgroup’s report.

State Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, issued a news release stating his support for the recommendations, released Jan. 7.

“With the high level of military training that we have operating in and out of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, it is important that we maintain the radar facilities as they’re currently configured,” Boccieri said.

“Keeping our controllers local allows the military to better train, allows air traffic control to better serve commercial operations, and maintains the viability of our airport operations.”

The workgroup is a “product of the FAA” and develops reports to support the transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System and seeks cost savings at FAA facilities, said Boccieri, a commercial pilot and Air Force Reserve pilot at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

He also is a former board member of the Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the airport. The air base and airport share the runways and other facilities at the airport.

Boccieri said he argued for keeping the Youngstown air-traffic control operations when Next Generation discussions began around 2010 and he was a member of Congress and vice chairman of the House aviation subcommittee.