The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the Austin air traffic control tower after making initial repairs to damage from flooding. The move to the permanent tower cleared the way for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to reopen its remaining runway.
While this move should greatly increase the airport’s capacity, the radar room in the tower’s base building will remain out of service for several weeks while crews repair extensive damage caused by more than a foot of water that invaded the facility.
The FAA is completing tests of temporary equipment that should allow us to transfer radar services to the San Antonio radar approach control. In the interim, controllers in our Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center continue to provide flight separation services.
Due to limitations in the Houston Center’s radar coverage of the Austin metro area, the agency must meter the volume of flights for safety reasons.
