LI airport projects stalled by FAA funds

Three projects worth more than $1.3 million and about 130 jobs at Islip Town airports are on hold, victims of the impasse that has forced a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, officials say.

Elsewhere in the New York metropolitan area, four projects at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Teterboro -- involving about 270 nongovernment jobs and worth $45.5 million -- are on hold, according to Port Authority records.

In Islip, the three projects due to start before year's end are: a required runway obstruction analysis of Long Island MacArthur Airport; a perimeter fence upgrade for the Bayport Aerodrome, and the design phase for the new fire rescue facility at Ronkonkoma, airport commissioner Teresa Rizzuto said. In all, 132 jobs are on hold

Since Congress failed to temporarily extend the FAA's funding nine days ago, 210 stop-work orders have been issued nationally -- for projects worth almost $11 billion -- because no agency employees are on hand at airports to oversee them, FAA officials said. In all, 4,000 employees have been furloughed since 12:01 a.m. on July 23, including 16 employees in the district office in Garden City, six at the New York Air Traffic Control Center at MacArthur and 101 at the Queens-based FAA eastern regional division office, officials said.

Since July 23, no money in the aviation trust fund could be accessed. The fund is also used to pay FAA engineers, scientists, research analysts and project managers.

The biggest project most-immediately affected in the region is a $6.4-million job to demolish the old air traffic control tower at LaGuardia. In total, 40 employees from the contracting firm Paul J. Scariano Inc. have been laid off from that project since last Sunday.

The stalemate has tied up $60 million in Airport Improvement Program funds for projects around the state, including the three in Islip involving 132 nongovernment jobs, that need funding by the end of September, FAA officials say.

The money is particularly vital in the Northeast, said Carl Beardsley, president of the New York Aviation Management Association, where winter shortens construction times. "If these projects aren't under way by late September or October, that's it for them for this year," he said, adding that all projects were intended to enhance safety and increase airport capacity.

"These are projects which enhance our infrastructure, are a necessity for the airports' operations and at the same time put people to work. It's unconscionable that these funds are being held hostage," said Rizzuto, an NYAMA board member.

National Air Transportation Association chief executive Jim Coyne, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, said FAA reauthorization has been only temporarily approved by Congress 20 times in the past 3 1/2 years for short-term extensions. Congress did not agree on another short-term funding measure because of disagreement over whether to eliminate government subsidies for airline service to 13 rural communities.

"It's high time Congress finally extended complete and comprehensive FAA authorization," he said.

While commercial travelers are not at risk, he said, more-serious are projects on hold at small airports vital to their communities because of cargo, business and emergency health care flights.

"These are the kinds of airports that are often the last ones to be taken care of and we're genuinely concerned some of them may have outstanding safety issues," he said.

Metro-area projects in a holding pattern:

Kennedy airport

Rehabilitation of taxiway Y and asphalting of other taxiways: $8 million; 25 jobs

LaGuardia airport

Security pylons in front of central terminal building: $10 million; 20 jobs

Teterboro airport

Runway rehabilitation: $7.5 million; 125 jobs

Safety work at runways (compressible concrete at runway ends to prevent planes overshooting): $20 million; 100 jobs

MacArthur airport

Runway obstruction analysis: $150,000 for design and engineering phase; 12 jobs

Perimeter fence upgrade for the Bayport Aerodrome: $160,000; about 20 jobs

Design phase for the new fire rescue facility: $1 million; as many as 100 jobs

SOURCES: Port Authority, Long Island MacArthur Airport