DAYTON — Dayton International Airport’s new air traffic control tower will go into operation in early June with about one-third of its current staff of controllers, as some functions are transferred to Columbus, a federal official said Tuesday.

The switchover to the $21 million tower from the current control cab atop the airport’s terminal building will occur at midnight June 4, said Barry Payne, the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic manager at Dayton.

Simultaneous with the new tower’s startup, the FAA will relocate, from Dayton to Port Columbus International Airport, part of the air traffic control operation that handles aircraft 30 to 50 miles out from Dayton. The new tower will handle the closer traffic, local takeoffs and landings. Aircraft farther out than 50 miles will remain the responsibility of an FAA facility at Indianapolis.

The FAA has done similar consolidations of functions in other markets around the country. The change in June will reduce the current staff of 38 controllers in Dayton to 12, Payne said. The departing staff will be transferred to Columbus and other FAA locations, he said.

The switchover should be unnoticed by air travelers, he said.

Danis Building Construction Co., of Miamisburg, began building the tower in 2007. Structurally, the 254-foot-tall tower has been completed for months, but the government delayed its opening while testing equipment and working out details of the function shift. The tower project’s total cost was $30.6 million including equipment, FAA officials have said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.