The Hutchinson Municipal Airport Contract Control Tower will stay open. That’s the word from Washington and Senator Jerry Moran’s office.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that it will cancel the planned closure of 149 airport control towers including the one in Hutchinson. Senator Moran says that’s thanks to the bipartisan bill passed by Congress which unequivocally directed the FAA to find savings elsewhere in their budget rather than target control towers for closure and air traffic controllers for furloughs.

Kansas Air Traffic Control facilities protected from closure by the announcement included not only the one in Hutchinson, but also the Philip Billard Municipal Airport tower in Topeka; the New Century Air Center in Olathe, Johnson County Executive in Olathe; and Manhattan Regional in Manhattan.