PUNTA GORDA, Fla.- Wednesday, pilots at the Charlotte County airport may be a bit surprised to find that they are expected to follow a new set of rules. Pilots landing or taking off from the Charlotte County airport found that they will now be answering to a full-time air traffic control tower.

The tower cost nearly $4 million to build and faced a number of financial hurdles before finally getting funding to staff the project from the F.A.A. 

Wednesday morning, the tower employees officially took over the duties of controlling air traffic full time at that airport. So far, employees say that they transition has gone over without a hitch.