The Federal Aviation Administration announced April 5 that the closing of 149 contract air traffic control towers, including the towers at the San Marcos, Georgetown and New Braunfels airports, would be delayed until June 15.

The day before that announcement came, the Texas Transportation Commission granted emergency 90-day funding to the 14 Texas airports that would have been affected.

The cuts were to come after the FAA was forced to trim $637 million from its operating budget as part of the federal budget cuts known as sequestration.

Veronica Beyer, director of media relations for TxDOT, said the department is now in a "holding pattern" with the FAA.

"FAA's position continues to be that the 149 contract towers will close on June 15 of this year," TxDOT Aviation Director Dave Fulton said. "Following the announcement by the FAA of the decision to delay the closures, we immediately placed the execution of those 14 grants on hold."

TxDOT officials said they would hold onto the grant money until the situation is resolved permanently or the federal funding runs out on June 15.

Stephen Alexander, San Marcos Municipal Airport manager, said he is still exploring all the funding options available to the airport.

"We're steady as she goes right now," he said. "We're hopeful that things will be worked out in Washington."

On April 24, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., announced they were working together to restore funding to the airport control towers. Rockefeller would not give details on the proposed solution but said it would address air traffic controllers specifically.

Citizens have also taken up the fight, Fulton said. The FAA has received numerous letters regarding the funding for control tower operations. That stack of letters is 18 inches high, Fulton said.

On April 21, sequester-related furloughs for air traffic controllers took effect. Fulton said that as a result of the furloughs, travelers could expect delays of up to 3.5 hours at some "busier" airports, such as Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.