{"id":1107,"date":"2026-05-29T07:33:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1107"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:33:57","slug":"mesa-gateway-airport-tower-shifts-to-faa-control-under-pilot-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1107","title":{"rendered":"Mesa Gateway Airport tower shifts to FAA control under pilot program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MESA, AZ (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 Mesa Gateway Airport will transition from contract tower operations to direct staffing and management by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under a pilot program.<\/p>\n

Read more Agriculture secretary announces \u201cGreat American Cotton Plan\u201d at Marana farm<\/a><\/p>\n

The change comes several weeks after an audit found major staffing issues across the contract tower program.<\/p>\n

Mesa Gateway is the busiest contract tower in the country.<\/p>\n

Ryan Smith, director of communications for Mesa Gateway, said the development will allow the airport to continue to grow and handle increasing traffic. The airport operates a complex airspace that includes commercial air traffic, cargo planes, flight schools, the Forest Service and ICE.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this is doing is taking unique towers like Gateway Airport and making sure we can continue to grow and handle that growing number of traffic,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Staffing challenges led to tower closures<\/h2>\n

Nationwide, there are 450 air traffic control towers. Just over half are contract towers, meaning they are run by private companies. Arizona has seven contract towers.<\/p>\n

A May audit found major staffing issues in the program. The audit found contract towers had to close more than 300 times in a four-month period last year because they did not have enough controllers.<\/p>\n

Smith said Mesa Gateway has not reached that level but has had to reduce tower operating hours. Last year, the airport said it lost two-thirds of its controllers to the FAA, which typically pays more and offers better benefits.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat this transition allows the FAA to do is instead of poaching from our controllers they can actually do the training here,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Tim Kiefer, a former air traffic controller who teaches at Embry-Riddle, said the transition gives the FAA more say in how the tower is staffed and who staffs it.<\/p>\n

Kiefer said the FAA needs the contract tower program because it does not have enough controllers to staff its own towers.<\/p>\n

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Read more Power outage in Tucson causes mail delays across southern Arizona<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mesa Gateway Airport is getting a major staffing change under a new FAA pilot program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nMesa Gateway Airport tower shifts to FAA control under pilot program - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mesa Gateway Airport tower shifts to FAA control under pilot program - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mesa Gateway Airport is getting a major staffing change under a new FAA pilot program.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T07:33:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1107#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1107\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Mesa Gateway Airport tower shifts to FAA control under pilot program\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T07:33:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1107\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1107#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fcdeaa988c1336dbcb2f9e4f9c616fd8.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1107#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1107\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1107\",\"name\":\"Mesa Gateway Airport tower shifts to FAA control under pilot program - 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