Copyright Shaw Local Enewspapers
The federal government shutdown has not yet had an effect on flights from local airfields, airport managers have reported. Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers have been required to keep working, although they are not being paid during the government shutdown. Meanwhile, smaller airports don’t have control towers or traffic controllers. “Our airport does not have a controller, and we have not seen any impact from the government shutdown,” said Jeffrey Benoit, airport manager at the Greater Kankakee Airport. The Joliet Regional Airport and Morris Municipal Airport also have not felt such effects. The larger Lewis University Airport in Romeoville does have a control tower and traffic controllers, however. Midwest Air Traffic Control provides controllers at the Lewis, airport director Chris Lawson said. “All in all, Lewis is unaffected,” he said. “We’ve done over 100,000 operations this year with the air traffic control tower. Everything is right in line with our expectations.” Chartwell Agency, a marketing company that handles media inquiries for the Chicago Rockford International Airport, declined to comment on what impact the shutdown may be having there. Other airports said business is proceeding as usual while traffic controllers might not be getting paid. Airport managers at DuPage Airport in West Chicago and Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove both said that the FAA, not airport management, runs the control towers. “We haven’t seen any impact,” said Mark Doles, executive director of the DuPage Airport Authority. Aurora airport manager Steve Andras said staff has “not seen any issues. The air traffic control staff, which is FAA, has indicated that there are no changes.”
