Because of state funding, the University Park Airport is now $500,000 closer to building an air traffic control tower, something the airport currently lacks, Kate Philips, Gov. Ed Rendell's spokeswoman, said.

However, the tower, along with a staff to operate it, would cost about $5 million, Bryan Rodgers, director of the University Park Airport, said.

"The control tower should have been there a long time ago," Charles Welch, director of the Centre County Airport Authority, said. "If a tower doesn't exist, it brings about a greater safety concern."

Air traffic for State College's airport is currently directed from a Universal Integrated Communication (UNICOM) advisory tower, which is located on Long Island, N.Y., Rodgers said. The Long Island tower is primarily used just during times of low visibility, high wind or dangerous weather, such as rain or snow, he added.

Locally, a UNICOM station located in Centre County checks radio frequencies in the air, offers weather advisories and gives instructions to planes landing at University Park. However, communication between the UNICOM station and the pilots is not mandatory, Rodgers said. Also, the technology would be more advanced if a control tower is built, he said.

Without a tower in University Park, there is a less direct link between the pilots and the personnel in charge of notifying pilots of any weather or traffic problems that may arise, Rodgers said.

"With a control tower, not only would the communication be more vast, it would be mandatory for all flights," said Rodgers.

Airports with large amounts of traffic receive funding for air traffic control towers from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Because of the relatively small size of the University Park Airport, it does not receive as much funding, and therefore, the total amount of funding might not be available until 2012 at the earliest, Rodgers said.

"The FAA decides where the available money is directed," Rodgers said. "In order for funding to become available [to us], other priorities of greater importance to the FAA must be met."

The idea of building a local tower is not a new issue. Talks first arose to build a control tower in University Park roughly two years ago, Rodgers said.