WOOD-TV8 (MI) (04/03/13)

The private staffing firm Midwest Air Traffic Control Services will take over operations at the W.K. Kellogg Airport control tower in Battle Creek, MI. Federal funding for the tower’s employees was cut late last month as part of the federal sequester. W.K. Kellogg was one of 149 airports nationally to lose control tower funding. A six-month, $200,000 contract with the private company is expected to be finalized on April 4. The city settled on a six-month contract because it does not believe private staffing is a long-term, sustainable solution to keeping the control tower up and running, says Battle Creek transportation director Larry Bowron.