Tulsa International Airport Breaks Ground On New Air Traffic Control Tower

A new Air Traffic Control Tower at Tulsa International Airport should be operational in early 2027, after officials secured funding for the $112.6 million project, and announced construction will start in September.

The current tower is 60 years old and considered both too small and too short for modern needs. The complication of Tulsa’s tower being locally owned while federally operated complicated the search for funding that CEO Alexis Higgins said finally came together through federal infrastructure funding.

“We're taking money that was given to communities to support infrastructure development and using it for a project that’s critically needed to sustain the airport for the long term. This one has been here for 60 years, and I have no doubt the next one will be here 60 years,” she said.

The site will be named the Senator Jim Inhofe Air Traffic Control Tower Complex, to mark his work securing funding, and his support of aviation.

Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell said the replacement will open up new business possibilities for the airport.

“Every company that we talk to about Oklahoma always asks about our airports and how advanced those airports are,” said Pinnell, who just recently returned from an aviation business recruiting trip to London.

Higgins said the current tower is too short to allow much new construction on the North end of the airfield.

“We can't develop large scale hangars on because of height restrictions and line of sight requirements that the controllers need to be able to see all of the movement areas of the airport,” she said.

The new tower will be 100 feet taller than the current one, rated to withstand hurricane force wind, and include a reinforced room to withstand tornadoes, according to controllers who assisted with the placement decisions for the tower, which will be built just West of the current one.