The Federal Aviation Administration has sharply cut back on the operating hours for the control tower at the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, which is seeing drastically reduced air traffic as a result of the coronavirus.

The control tower is now scheduled to be open only eight hours a day — from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. That’s down from the previous 17 hours a day — from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The FAA said Newport News is one of about 100 mostly smaller airports nationwide to see the cutbacks in tower operations. "These facilities have seen a significant reduction in flights, especially during the evening and nighttime hours, since the pandemic began,” the agency said in a statement.

The cutbacks will “protect our employees” from exposure to the virus, the FAA said, adding that there will be enough manpower in the towers to “maintain safe and efficient operations” while also "minimizing health risks to our workforce.”

The upcoming schedule for American Airlines — soon to be the only commercial carrier serving Newport News — shows that most of its takeoffs and landings in Newport News will take place when the airport’s control tower is closed.

American’s flight schedule shows that of the six flights in and out of the airport in June, four of them are outside of the tower’s new operating hours — outbound flights at 7 a.m. and 5:57 p.m., and inbound flights at 5:27 p.m. and 9:42 p.m.

But Newport News airport officials contend that because pilots don’t need air traffic controllers to fly or move planes on the ground, the FAA’s decision won’t have a big impact. "This change does not impact any aircraft from flying into or out of the airport,” airport spokeswoman Jenifer Spratley said.

“When the Newport News Tower closes for the day, be it during normal operating hours or for the reduced operating hours due to COVID-19, the airport becomes a ‘non-towered’ airport,” Spratley wrote in an email. Of the country’s 20,000 airports, she pointed out, only 500 have towers.

“And not all towered airports operate 24/7,” Spratley added.

The FAA likewise asserted that that tower cutbacks “will not have operational effects” at the 100 airports seeing the cuts.

The agency said it examined hourly aircraft counts, flights on commercial airlines and other factors in making its decisions. The changes, the FAA said, “are not intended to be made permanent.”

“As operational traffic counts” change ... the FAA will make appropriate adjustments," the agency said.

Of the 100 airports seeing cuts, only one other is in Virginia: The Manassas Regional Airport.

Delta Air Lines had been flying three times a day from Newport News to Atlanta — with connections from there to other destinations. That was cut back in April, and a 10 days ago the airline announced it’s leaving Newport News for now, consolidating local flights in and out of Norfolk on a temporary basis.

American had been flying seven times a day to Charlotte and three to Philadelphia before the pandemic. It’s now flying three times daily to Charlotte and plans to stop flying to Philadelphia in June. That leaves six flights to and from Charlotte — four of which will be while the control tower is closed.

Spratley said pilots must follow standard FAA regulations — such as basic right-of-way rules — without traffic controllers. “As part of every pilot’s training ... they learn how to safely operate their aircraft at an airport without an operating control tower,” Spratley wrote.

Jack Sheehan, a private pilot who has flown in and out of the Newport News airport for about 30 years, says general aviation pilots are OK with the tower’s hours being cut.

“We are used to flying to airports that don’t have towers," he said.

Air traffic in Newport News, Sheehan said, “is not anywhere like it used to be” in terms of air traffic.

The FAA’s air traffic control system, he said, includes an “approach control center” in Norfolk that’s separate from each airport’s control tower. The “approach control” employees communicate with many pilots by radar, clearing them for landing at Norfolk, Newport News and other airports from several miles away.

The local control towers then take over the communication.

When a tower is closed, Sheehan said, the pilots communicate with each other on a common radio frequency.

“It’s self-controlled,” he said. “We call it ‘calling in the blind.’ You are announcing where you are to all traffic in the area. You announce your identification — such as 'this is Cessna 1234\u2032 — and your intentions, what you’re going to do. You may be landing, flying overhead, practicing an approach.”

“You might say, 'We’re gonna land on runway 7, and you give warnings all the way down so people who are flying know where the other planes are,” Sheehan said.

The control tower, he said, also handles “ground control” — the movement on the tarmacs, taxiways and runways — as well as calls for rescue service if there’s a mishap on the ground. When a tower is closed, he said, the pilots will communicate with each other about ground movements, too.

“That works pretty well in places that are not very crowded," Sheehan said.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, [email protected]

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