HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Leadership at the Huntington Tri-State Airport announced Saturday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) informed them that Huntington Tri-State Airport would continue to provide 24-hour air traffic control service and would not be subject to reduced hours. The FAA had sent a memo detailing potential reduction in hours in November of 2019 to 15 U.S. airports, including HTS.

“The current services provided, and any future growth at the airport, relies heavily on the ability to provide continuous coverage from the air traffic control tower to meet the demands of local and itinerant users. As the airport is situated on top of mountainous terrain, the 24-hour coverage from the tower ensures the necessary level of safety that the air carriers, charter flights, medical flights, and the general public have come to rely on and expect,” said Brent Brown, Executive Director of the airport.

Brown went on to thank the efforts of many that championed the effort to keep 24-hour access, “The Huntington Tri-State Airport is extremely appreciative of the support and efforts of Senators Manchin and Capito as well as Congresswoman Miller. Together they were able to get the FAA to remove HTS from the list of airports being considered for this reduction. We thank the FAA as well for understanding the importance of maintaining a 24-hour control tower at HTS. They have also recognized the negative impacts to both the Airport and the community that would have occurred under a reduction of hours of the control tower.”