Plan would save $1.7 billion initially plus $1 billion annually.

As the Federal Aviation Administration prepares to close 149 air traffic control towers as part of more than $600 million in spending cuts required by the sequester, a new Reason Foundation study shows how the FAA could save $1 billion a year by consolidating air traffic control centers and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities.

More than 45 percent of U.S. air traffic control centers and 39 percent of TRACONs are over 35 years old. Instead of spending money upgrading these old and often isolated air traffic facilities, the Reason Foundation plan shows how air traffic control operations could be merged into large hubs that would guide air traffic throughout regions of the country.