Drafter
09/18/2003
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A MOTION opposing the inclusion of the King County International Airport on the list of airports designated as rural airports.
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WHEREAS, the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Bill, AIR-21, contains a list of sixty-nine visual flight rules air traffic control towers proposed to be designated as rural and subject to privatization, and
WHEREAS, King County International Airport ("KCIA") has been included in that list, and
WHEREAS, KCIA is neither small nor rural and in fact does provide IFR separation for arriving and departing aircraft, and
WHEREAS, KCIA operates under a letter of agreement with the Sea-Tac tower and Seattle Terminal Radar Control, "TRACON," all of which provide the largest metropolitan area in the Northwest with the highest level of efficiency and safety, and
WHEREAS, KCIA serves the greater Seattle area as a base of operations for air cargo shipments and corporate hangars for some of the most important corporations in the United States, with more than five hundred fifty based aircraft, and
WHEREAS KCIA is the preferred landing site for Air Force One and the Blue Angels flight team during their annual visit to Seattle, and
WHEREAS, KCIA is the home to The Boeing Company's delivery facility, Boeing's Flight Test Operation for its entire line of planes and Boeing's military AWACS facility serving United States and allied air forces, and
WHEREAS, designating the KCIA tower as rural could compromise safety and efficiency in one of the most complicated air spaces in the United States, and
WHEREAS, the rural designation of the KCIA tower may have very adverse business and employment impacts for the Boeing Company and the one hundred fifty other aviation-related businesses at KCIA and
WHEREAS, Washington state already has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
A. The council urges Congress and the Federal Aviation Administra...

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