Trenton-Mercer Airport Will Stay Open During Impending Sequestration

The Trenton-Mercer Airport will remain open regardless of cuts that may happen if Congress doesn't come to agreement by the Sequestation deadline on Friday, March 1. 

Should sequestration take place, over the next seven months the federal budget will be cut by $85 billion, with an additional $1.2 trillion used for deficit reductions over the next 10 years, including in the FAA's Contract Tower Program. That program funds control tower services at about 250 control towers, including Trenton-Mercer Airport.

If TTN’s tower closes, the airport would remain open but the overlying FAA radar facility would become responsible for the operations. Workloads would increase for FAA facilities at the same time these facilities would facing the possible reduced staffing. Hughes said this would weaken the ability of the FAA to perform its most important function: keeping aircraft passengers safe.

“Of course, should this chain of events occur there could be an impact to air carrier operations; however, such an occurrence would come over the course of weeks and months, not overnight,” Hughes said.

“I urge people to continue booking flights and making travel plans; panic is not in order. Travelers should stay abreast of events in Washington, check the Frontier website often in advance of your trip, and remember that sequestration is not inevitable. I remain cautiously optimistic that the partisan bickering will soon end and the best interests of the American people will come to the fore