Senator Vitter fights to keep Shreveport Downtown Airport tower - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

A U.S. Senator from Louisiana is fighting to keep the state's air traffic controls open.

Automatic spending cuts took effect on March 1st. Those cuts have placed Shreveport's Downtown Airport tower on the list of towers to be closed.

The tower is set to be closed on Sunday, April 7th.

U.S. Senator David Vitter met with officials from the Shreveport Downtown airport and Barksdale Air Force Base Thursday to talk about finding funds to keep the tower open."There's no good reason that this or other control towers have to close," Vitter said. "During the budget debates, we proved that the necessary savings to keep the towers open exist and could easily be moved to provide funding so our airports like the Shreveport Downtown Airport aren't negatively affected by automatic spending cuts."

Vitter is working to shift funding in the Federal Aviation Administration to keep the Shreveport's Downtown tower open.

The spending cuts also threatened to close the Texarkana, Texas Airport tower, but Governor Rick Perry found the funds to keep it open and operating.

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