Work begins on airport tower

Spokane airport officials started the first phase of construction Monday on a $23 million air-traffic-control tower.

The 239-foot tower is being built on eight acres of airport land north of Geiger Boulevard about three-fourths of a mile southeast of the current tower at Spokane International Airport.

It is expected to be the highest control tower in Washington state, according to airport officials. The Spokane airport’s current tower is only 75 feet high. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s tower, dedicated last year, stands 233 feet tall.

The companies involved in building the Spokane tower say it will be complete late next year. However, it won’t be until midsummer 2007 when air-traffic controllers take over and handle flights from the tower.

The project is being financed through the Federal Aviation Administration’s facilities account. Money in that fund comes from fees added to the cost of all U.S. airline passenger tickets.

The tower “will allow us to do everything we do better and more easily,” said Mitch Roland, president of the union representing 30 controllers working at the Spokane airport.

The current tower was built in the 1960s. Roland and airport officials have said it is too short and not ideally placed.

“We have some problems with line of sight. We can’t see about one-half the airport,” Roland said.

The new tower’s taller height will be critical, Airport Board Chairman John Wagner said, as the airport expands cargo handling south and east of the main terminal.

The airport control tower also handles arriving flights approaching nearby Fairchild Air Force Base. The taller tower, with newer equipment, will make it easier to handle that traffic and switch those flights to the air base tower, Roland said.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., spoke at the groundbreaking and praised the work that controllers are doing to ensure aviation safety.

She also vowed to oppose FAA efforts to cut costs by eliminating controller shifts between midnight and 5 a.m. at 48 airports. The list, announced late last year, includes Spokane, Boise and Billings.

“It will be very hard for them to convince me that Spokane needs less than 24-hour coverage,” Murray said.

While no commercial flights normally land after midnight, the tower handles air traffic going to Fairchild and manages MedStar flights operated by area hospitals, Roland said.

Controllers typically handle about half a dozen flights per night, he said.

And bad weather scrambles commercial flights and often forces planes to land in Spokane well after midnight, he added.