Answer Man: What upgrades are planned for new air traffic control tower?
Today's burning question is about the Asheville Regional Airport's new air traffic control tower, and what upgrades it is getting. Got a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Interim Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.
Question: Whenever I go through an airport, I think of the airport tower as the brain of the airport. I know there is a new tower that is going to be built at our regional airport. I am going to assume that it's going to have the newest state of the art equipment. What upgrades will be taking place? Will the tower be larger and how many people can work there at any given time? What will be the total cost of the tower and the equipment that is being installed? Finally, what will be done with the old tower when the new tower is operational?
Answer: The new tower, which will cost a total of $55 million, broke ground on Jan. 25.
Once the new tower is up and running, which Asheville Regional Airport President and CEO Lew Bleiweis previously told the Citizen Times would be around mid-2025, the old tower will be taken down to make way for the airport's new 275,000-square-foot, two-story terminal building with 12 gates and 12 loading bridges.
"It isn't every day that an airport director gets the opportunity to build an air traffic control tower," Bleiweis said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Construction on the terminal will begin soon, likely spring, spokesperson Tina Kinsey told the Citizen Times in December 2022. When reached on Feb. 6, she did not have an update.
The new tower will cost $44 million to construct and will hold $11 million of new equipment, updating the aging equipment in the old tower, which is one of the oldest in the county.
At 127 feet tall and located across the runways from the airport, the tower will also have better sight lines than the old tower, allowing air traffic controllers to more safely direct planes, previous reporting shows.
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A 13,300-square-foot base building that will hold offices, training facilities and other technology will be constructed along with the tower, which will move Federal Aviation Administration employees out of the airport. Air traffic controllers previously told the Citizen Times that this will help with things like parking.
According to a press release from the FAA, the base building will also contain the airport's Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, which will be manned by five air traffic controllers. The facility will guide aircraft more than 5 miles away on approach and after departure from the airport and manage aircraft in the busy airspace above the airport.
The tower cab, which is the viewing area at the top of the tower, will be 440 square feet, Kinsey said. It will hold four people: three controllers and one supervisor.
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The current tower holds the same amount of people, but is significantly smaller at only 250 square feet, according to Kinsey.
Christian Smith is the general assignment reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Questions or comments? Contact him at RCSmith@gannett.com or 828-274-2222.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man: What upgrades are planned for air traffic control tower?
