KCRag Forum

DaveKCMO wrote:Check the city manager’s twitter feed for some interesting comments: @kcmomanager

I always favor the unadulterated professional opinion rather than those compromised by political considerations. All that said, one of the unfortunate consequences of ever letting this get to a vote is that now the council members feel beholden to the whims of the various voting blocks that decided overwhelmingly in favor of the project and expect something in return.

Quinton had some positive tweet a few hours ago about getting some direction done tomorrow.

great reporting by The Pitch.

If we are a host city for the World Cup in 2022 would the new airport be operational and could we possibly still use the old terminals for extra flights or would they already be torn down?

2026 is the North America world cup

But will we be able to add the KCI > Qatar daily shuttle in time for the WC in 2022?

It seems like I've read that edgemoor was planning on repurposing one of the old terminals

KCPowercat wrote:2026 is the North America world cup

When do we expect the airport to be completed?

WSPanic wrote:But will we be able to add the KCI > Qatar daily shuttle in time for the WC in 2022?

Hourly ^

TheLastGentleman wrote:It seems like I've read that edgemoor was planning on repurposing one of the old terminals

The current project has no plan to repurpose them. The parking garages will continue to be used. But the old terminals don’t really have any good uses

ldai_phs wrote: The current project has no plan to repurpose them. The parking garages will continue to be used. But the old terminals don’t really have any good uses

Yes, but I was just thinking that if we finish the new terminal just before the WC and demand will be huge, we could use both the old and new terminals at the same time. Perhaps, it could be setup for private aircraft.

beautyfromashes wrote:

ldai_phs wrote: The current project has no plan to repurpose them. The parking garages will continue to be used. But the old terminals don’t really have any good uses

Yes, but I was just thinking that if we finish the new terminal just before the WC and demand will be huge, we could use both the old and new terminals at the same time. Perhaps, it could be setup for private aircraft.

We aren't getting the world cup.

beautyfromashes wrote:

ldai_phs wrote: The current project has no plan to repurpose them. The parking garages will continue to be used. But the old terminals don’t really have any good uses

Yes, but I was just thinking that if we finish the new terminal just before the WC and demand will be huge, we could use both the old and new terminals at the same time. Perhaps, it could be setup for private aircraft.

The New Terminal has the double the capacity we currently use. I doubt we would need to use the other terminals. Also keep in mind that they will be in a veryyy bad shape in 2026 unless we spend many millions to keep them maintained and up to date

The airport does need to be expandable though to at least 60 gates. Portland is not a hub yet has and uses 60 gates. We'll get there as the region grows and potentially becomes a mid-sized hub. Would be ideal to have one remaining terminal for small airlines to private/commuter jets not at all doing mini-hub activity, but then you still have the inefficiencies of current security gates - and probably not worth the maintenance.

So ensuring new airport design is expandable at as minimal cost as possible is important, ideally not having to build another separate terminal.

Terminal C building as a new airline museum would be awesome...save the old building to remind us of past failures.

earthling wrote:The airport does need to be expandable though to at least 60 gates. Portland is not a hub yet has and uses 60 gates. We'll get there as the region grows and potentially becomes a mid-sized hub. Would be ideal to have one remaining terminal for small airlines to private/commuter jets not at all doing mini-hub activity, but then you still have the inefficiencies of current security gates - and probably not worth the maintenance.

So ensuring new airport design is expandable at as minimal cost as possible is important, ideally not having to build another separate terminal.

As I understand it. The expansion to 42 gates will be relatively easy. After that things get tricky and it expensive. Basically, unless we replace and move the control tower, we are looking at having to build a separate Terminal 2 .
But demand could double from today and we still wouldn’t be close to needing the full 42 gates. We won’t need 60 gates for a very long time(maybe not even in the life of the terminal). No point in planning that far out.

dnweava wrote: We aren't getting the world cup.

What makes you say that? We won't get the final, but seem almost assured of being a host city.

ldai_phs wrote: The New Terminal has the double the capacity we currently use. I doubt we would need to use the other terminals. Also keep in mind that they will be in a veryyy bad shape in 2026 unless we spend many millions to keep them maintained and up to date

They will have to be maintained while we are building the new terminal and shouldn't be too far out of service when the games come. I just think the new terminal will be way overcome with that amount of visitors. And if you have royalty from Saudi Arabia all flying in with their 747s, it might be good to have a private place to put them without having to limit flights. They say that every game in the WC is like a Super Bowl.

beautyfromashes wrote:

ldai_phs wrote: The New Terminal has the double the capacity we currently use. I doubt we would need to use the other terminals. Also keep in mind that they will be in a veryyy bad shape in 2026 unless we spend many millions to keep them maintained and up to date

They will have to be maintained while we are building the new terminal and shouldn't be too far out of service when the games come. I just think the new terminal will be way overcome with that amount of visitors. And if you have royalty from Saudi Arabia all flying in with their 747s, it might be good to have a private place to put them without having to limit flights. They say that every game in the WC is like a Super Bowl.

In theory the new terminal could handle 60-70k a day. (Current Yearky Pax Times 2 divided by 365).
The main problem with international charters is that They would have to go through the New Terminal’s international Gates anyways due to customs issues. Also there is only 1 gate in all the existing terminals that could handle a plane of that size anyways.

beautyfromashes wrote:

ldai_phs wrote: The New Terminal has the double the capacity we currently use. I doubt we would need to use the other terminals. Also keep in mind that they will be in a veryyy bad shape in 2026 unless we spend many millions to keep them maintained and up to date

They will have to be maintained while we are building the new terminal and shouldn't be too far out of service when the games come. I just think the new terminal will be way overcome with that amount of visitors. And if you have royalty from Saudi Arabia all flying in with their 747s, it might be good to have a private place to put them without having to limit flights. They say that every game in the WC is like a Super Bowl.

It's not the building condition that matters, it's the operations aspect.
Think about the absurdity of spending money on a major facility to be open for a week or two.

You're going to have 12 months of lead time to figure out an operational plan to reopen a closed terminal. Anything with federal approval involved takes time. After approval staff will need to be hired and trained which will take another six months (It can take the city several months just to hire someone) These aren't people taking calls in a call center but air traffic control, mechanics, and such. Airlines have to also hire and place their staff in the facility and train them after the facility is ready. You have to test everything inside and out from door operations to the luggage system to if the toilets flush, bring airline systems online.

If an existing terminal is supposed to open in time for a 2026 event after being closed in 2021 they would probably need to begin planning to reopen it in 2023 or 2024.

Also, if you think royalty from Saudi Arabia wouldn't be flying on a private plane into MKC or Johnson County Executive......