Before my time all jet airline aircraft had to operate with a control tower.
That's why the multimillion dollar tower was built at Gove.
I stopped this ridiculous mis allocation of resources and our Board agreed to use the FAA establishment and discontinuance formulae.
This resulted in the closing of towers like Mt Isa and many others . The Gove Tower has never been used. Can someone post a photo- does it still have a fake goldfish hanging from the ceiling?
Since my time Peter Cromarty introduced a new system which I would imagine keeps the status quo.
When I have influence again we will continue with the cost reductions including opening the towers up to competition. The ATCs told me they wanted to set up there own business that could halve the cost of D towers.
In the USA about half the towers are run under contract with major cost savings.
Not really necessary in Aus with the ex military running our aviation system because the airlines don't seem to worry about the rip off costs.