No plans to fly out of Southern Johnson County

Maitre D · Post by **Maitre D** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:35 pm

The administrator of the JoCo airport was quoted in the Star yesterday as saying that they did a feasibility study on this 4 years ago, but found undercapacity at KCI and some resistance by home groups.

The rumor a while back was that SW Airlines wanted to exclusively fly out of there. They'd have made a KILLING with all the JoCo business people-vacationers.

Story mentioned that the neighborhoods are being built too close to the airport (near Gardner) anyway. We'll see.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:44 pm

no way this happens anytime probably in our lifetime. Cities twice our size don't support 2 airports.

Post by **dangerboy** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:56 pm

MidAmerica Airport on the Illinois side of the St. Louis metro has been a pretty miserable failure. They spent millions building a terminal, and have only had a couple of short-lived passenger services.

KCI has more land available for expansion than almost any other airport. By the time it might need a reliever airport, the Joco airport will be landlocked by suburban sprawl.

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:20 pm

Which airport are they talking about.... the one that forms the boundary between Olathe and Gardner or the one between Olathe and Overland Park?

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:31 pm

KCPowercat wrote:no way this happens anytime probably in our lifetime. Cities twice our size don't support 2 airports.

Never underestimate the power of Jo Co separatists...remember, they can do EVERYTHING better in their county and in their state.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 12:07 am

If the population continued to shift to only one part of the metro, it could happen. However, the population is beginning to balance out across the metro, in addition to KCI upgrades, so it'll NEVER happen!

ComandanteCero · Post by **ComandanteCero** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 12:21 am

i've heard this a couple of times (the whole population balancing out), how is that determined? I'm honestly asking, not trying to be a smart ass. Cause it would be interesting to know how fast its happening, where, and why and what effect that might have on Joco, etc, uh oh, do i feel a new thread coming on?

Post by **dangerboy** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:38 am

ComandanteCero wrote:i've heard this a couple of times (the whole population balancing out), how is that determined? I'm honestly asking, not trying to be a smart ass. Cause it would be interesting to know how fast its happening, where, and why and what effect that might have on Joco, etc, uh oh, do i feel a new thread coming on?

Suburban growth has moved around a few times. In the 1980s and early 1990s, most of it was in the southwest corner (Overland Park, Olathe, etc.) Before that it was south and east in Independence, Raytown, Ruskin, etc. Since the late 1990s the hot spots have been the Northland and Lee's Summit. KCMO is now the #1 city for new home construction, most of that in Clay County. Now with western Wyandotte County growing, the metro is growing again in all directions, not just one.

DanCa · Post by **DanCa** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:55 pm

I really don't see the point or think this will ever be a passenger airport. KCI has so much space and really isn't very busy to start with.

Last time I saw the JoCo airport it looked like it was in the middle of nowhere. "Landlocked" by houses is all relative. I work across the street from the Orange County airport and it has freeways directly on each end of the runways as well as businesses and housing. They have a noise ordinance and different takeoff procedures to keep noise down.

I noticed newer houses being built this summer as I flew into KCI that weren't far from the runway. I was surprised they built under the flight path. I live under the OC airport flight path and personally, I enjoy watching the planes and identifying them. Apparently everyone doesn't though.