Oct. 14, 2024
Numerous officials and area stakeholders attended a recent open house to celebrate the new air traffic control tower, set to open Oct. 20, at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport (TEB).
The new facility is the culmination of coordination between federal and local authorities, airport users and the community. The event was organized by the FAA Eastern Regional Administrator Marie Kennington-Gardiner, offering an opportunity for the local community to explore the facility from the cab and the catwalk at the top to the equipment and generator rooms on the ground level before it becomes operational.
The new facility is the result of five years of design and construction and installation of equipment. It features a tower cab three times the square footage of the current cab, sitting at 157 feet above ground level compared to the 75 feet of the current cab. The Oct. 20 transition from the current control tower structure to the new facility will be seamless and unnoticeable to pilots and operators, officials said.
The borough of Little Ferry, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) and industry stakeholders, through the long-standing Teterboro Aircraft Noise Abatement Advisory Committee (TANAAC), worked with the FAA during the design and construction process.
The TANAAC, established in 1987, allows local borough, township and city leaders to collaborate with the airport manager, FAA air traffic control tower manager and members of the aviation community.
“The Federal Aviation Administration’s new tower will provide sufficient height, space and location to enhance air traffic safety and efficiency by incorporating updated state-of-the-art technologies and systems, ensuring adequate depth perception, line of sight and visibility of all movement and non-movement areas at the airport,” said Sherri Smith, manager of Teterboro Airport, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Little Ferry Mayor Mauro Raguseo participated in a recent open house event, stating, “Communities surrounding Teterboro Airport have been concerned about air traffic safety for decades. The previous control tower was outdated and insufficient. The sight lines were not great, making it challenging to maintain our safety. This new, state-of-the-art tower is exactly what Teterboro needed to ensure safe takeoffs and landings. Those of us living and working close to the airport truly appreciate the federal government’s critical investment in this much needed upgrade.”
“Looking out from the tower cab it becomes obvious that general aviation thrives here at Teterboro, a business aviation hub like no other in the world,” noted Alex Gertsen, CAM, NBAA’s senior director of airport advocacy and vertical infrastructure. “These projects are marathons, not sprints. Planning and environmental permitting processes began here in 2009 and now fifteen years later, all Teterboro Airport stakeholders will benefit from these efforts and the elevated level of safety thanks to exemplary collaboration from the FAA, PANYNJ, Avports, National Air Traffic Controllers Association, airport users and tenants and not to be overlooked – the involvement of the surrounding community.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.