Additionally, air-traffic control towers at 149 smaller airports nationwide are slated to be closed starting April 7.
She insisted there had been no safety implication as control towers still had radio and radar contact with aircraft.
Airlines ran up against a string of understaffed control towers from Michigan to North Carolina that were holding up flights.
While the FAA has said it may have to close more than 100 control towers, it has given few specifics.
How about awarding grants to the control towers at Hartsfield and O'Hare?
Executives said UPS wasn't affected by the slowdown because many of its cargo flights are at night when control towers are less hectic.
The plan also would allow authorities to protect 149 control towers at small and medium-sized airports that are slated for closure for budgetary reasons.
To the surprise of the airlines, control towers began unilaterally to impose a separation of 60 nautical miles between aircraft, irrespective of their altitude.
Miami's terminal radar approach control center, or Tracon, guides airplanes from high altitude into airport approach paths and then hands them over to airport control towers.
The good news is that the FAA has delayed to June the decision to close 149 air traffic control towers at general aviation airports around the country.
FORBES: FAA's Reckless Threat to Close 149 Air Traffic Control Towers in June
At airports with control towers, the FAA needs to study what impact suddenly closing the towers would have on pilots who have gotten used to having them.
FORBES: FAA's Reckless Threat to Close 149 Air Traffic Control Towers in June
For instance, if renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines are installed on-site, they have to be clear of runways and air traffic control towers.
The agency says it will begin deploying Data Comm, as the program has been renamed, in all control towers in 2016 and in all high-altitude control centers in 2019.
So we are beginning today discussions with our unions to likely close more than 100 air traffic control towers at airports with fewer than 150, 000 flight operations per year.
"We're very discouraged and we still think that the Department of Transportation and FAA ought to scrub the budget harder to find savings that don't affect the control towers, " Dickerson said.
It also plans to cut overnight shifts at more than 60 towers at medium-size airports this summer and eliminate about 170 control towers staffed by contracted employees at small airports next month.
In addition to furloughs, the FAA is planning to eliminate midnight shifts for air traffic controllers at 60 airport towers, close over 100 control towers at smaller airports and reduce preventative maintenance of equipment.
While the FAA uses its own workforce of some 14, 700 controllers to staff about 280 control towers at major airports, it contracts with three companies to staff roughly another 250 towers, generally at smaller airports.
The Wednesday conference call "wasn't just some coffee break conversation at the water cooler, " he said, saying it included FAA officials and representatives of all three contractors who operate FAA control towers in the United States.
The FAA on Sunday began furloughing its air-traffic controllers for one day every 10 work days to meet its required cuts under the sequester, forcing some understaffed control towers to hold aircraft at airports or increase space between airborne planes.
Frederick, Maryland (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday told 149 regional airports across the country it would begin closing their air traffic control towers in April, but said it would spare another 40 towers that had been on the chopping block.
CNN: Who's in the tower? At some regional airports soon: Nobody
If this can be packaged into a commercially viable platform, it could instantly double the amount of information sent over existing networks, and on an even grander scale, it could allow airplanes to radio into control towers simultaneously (a feat that's shockingly impossible with today's physics bearing down).
ENGADGET: 'Stanford gurus enable two-way radio communications. Over.'
Washington (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration this week is sending out scores of letters to small- and medium- size airports nationwide saying the agency may soon close their control towers because of budget cuts, unless they can convince the government that the action will harm the national interest.
CNN: Airports can make case to keep their control towers open
Such towers handle approximately 28% of all control tower operations, although the towers being cut account for a little less than 6% of commercial airline operations.
CNN: FAA says 173 air traffic control towers will close on April 7
But they also point out that some of the biggest problems with the service are beyond their control, like the placement of cellular towers and the fact that so many users are all vying for the same service.
"To us and our people, it's extremely significant, " said Shane Cordes, CEO of Midwest Air Traffic Control Service, which provides controllers to towers in about 23 states in the East, Northeast, Great Lakes and central regions of the United States.
应用推荐