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TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Marana Regional Airport received an $800,000 federal grant that moves the facility closer to building an air traffic control tower.
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The grant comes about a month after the airport saw a deadly crash in April that killed two people.
The grant from the Federal Contract Tower Grant Program will be used for the design phase, which includes more than just the design of the tower itself.
“The parking area, the entrance drive to connect that to other existing roads or drives at the airport. There’s also utilities that need to run to the tower and those types of things,” said Fausto Burruel, director of Marana’s Public Works Department.
The Public Works Department said the number of people who fly in and out of the airport is more than enough to warrant a tower.
The airport entered the process to build a tower in 2019 because there were enough people using the airport then, and that number has only grown since.
Marana Regional Airport is a general aviation reliever airport, and pilots flying in and out must talk to each other.
“Pilots regulate themselves. As they enter, there’s protocols in place of how they communicate with one another when they’re coming in for a landing, when they’re leaving, those type of things,” Burruel said.
But as the airport sees more people flying in and out, that could get complicated, which is why the town has been in the process of getting a control tower for years.
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“A tower will really help regulate that and establish flight patterns and also establish, you know, which order pilots are gonna enter the airport,” Burruel said.
The tower represents a step for safety at the airport, coming after two deadly crashes that happened there within the past year and a half — including a mid-air collision in February 2025 that aviation experts told 13 News may have been prevented with a tower.
In a meeting with the state’s FAA office in Phoenix, Burruel said they discussed the future of the tower, including next steps that need to be taken to ensure it can be built.
“We’re going to continue to pursue grants to help offset costs or pay for the tower going forward, especially when we get into construction,” Burruel said.
The total project is estimated to cost roughly $16 million, which is why they will need more funding.
While they are unsure of the exact timeline, town officials expect the project to take a few more years to complete.
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