OFFICIAL - New KCI Terminal

[beautyfromashes]

If we waited we might’ve got the wavy roof and a fountain…

Every time they announce “on time and under budget!” so proudly, I always think the same thing.

[TheLastGentleman]

While I’m as disappointed as anyone about the architecture, I’d take a boring design with a smooth development over a complex design with delays and lawsuits any day

[Highlander]

While I’m as disappointed as anyone about the architecture, I’d take a boring design with a smooth development over a complex design with delays and lawsuits any day

I'd take the boring design over the cramped old KCI terminals any day as well.

[AlkaliAxel]

I got no complaints about the airport.

I just hope that because we already got this funded, we're gonna be able to use infrastructure money for other things we really need. That could be a positive.

[KCPowercat]

While I’m as disappointed as anyone about the architecture, I’d take a boring design with a smooth development over a complex design with delays and lawsuits any day

New Orleans fliers would probably agree.

[WoodDraw]

Obviously waiting for a pandemic and then hoping for an infrastructure bill isn't a good strategy. Just frustrating that it looks like there will be money around and we don't have anything ready to request.

The apm, but I assume they'll want some local match and we don't have it for a few years. I guess that'll be our ask though.

[normalthings]

KC: new terminal with a bunch of extra gates opens in 2023

Peers (STL, Cincinnati, Cleveland): earliest they could open would be 2028. Maybe longer due to many of our peers without new terminals requiring phased demo/construction.


We could open a new terminal and an expansion in the same time it takes our peers to build 1 facility.

[Chris Stritzel]

KC: new terminal with a bunch of extra gates opens in 2023

Peers (STL, Cincinnati, Cleveland): earliest they could open would be 2028. Maybe longer due to many of our peers without new terminals requiring phased demo/construction.

We could open a new terminal and an expansion in the same time it takes our peers to build 1 facility.

St. Louis doesn't have the money for a new airport, so KC is in a position to be the premier airport for mid-sized midwestern cities for an extended period of time. If anything, STL would just overhaul the landmark Terminal 1, build a new concourse and then close and demolish Terminal 2. It wouldn't be as shiny or as open as other airports, but it would work. The days of St. Louis's airport being a hub have come and gone. With Chicago and Kansas City close enough by, St. Louis should just try to keep what it has, do some upgrades, and call it a day.

[Sani]

I don't think Cincinnati is in dire need of a new terminal. The terminal they have was built as a Delta hub in 1994, and it's been expanded since then, even though Delta de-hubbed it years ago.

[WoodDraw]

KC got a little "lucky" because there was such a consensus that our airport had to go. I think our peer cities will struggle to convince airlines to do much more than cosmetic.

I'm not familiar with what their fees are at though and how much room they have to raise money

[Anthony_Hugo98]

I really foresee MCI as a soon to be powerhouse airport for the Midwest region as a whole. This facility will allow us to fully utilize our geographic position, and with nearly all major US airlines either already having, or planning to start service soon, I see us on an upward trajectory with this new terminal.

[normalthings]

Iirc STL and Cleveland have both identified new terminals. Cincinnati not quite.

I bring them up as our peers with old facilities. Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, all have been or under construction facilities.

[WoodDraw]

Iirc STL and Cleveland have both identified new terminals. Cincinnati not quite.

I bring them up as our peers with old facilities. Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, all have been or under construction facilities.

I know nothing

I just wonder the appetite if we're up and running. I'm thinking more STL Down the line too, we're designed for a few more gates.

Neither of us will be a hub, but I could see KC grabbing the traffic and them wanting to move towards KC than paying for STL

Delta or American could probably add a transatlantic and a lounge. Southwest has room.

[herrfrank]

KC has long been mentioned on the OneWorld blogs as "high on the list" for a BA LHR flight. BA always wants a lounge -- they are sticklers about this, whether 3-class or 4-class service (Tourist, Premium Economy, ClubWorld, First). In this case (the new MCI), this would almost certainly be an Admirals Club. Right now the airlines are in survival mode, but in a few months, at their current cash flow, they will start expansion planning.

The rattled china from the de-flagging of the AC in SAN provides perspective on this (BA used to operate a tailing flight from PHX to SAN on their London widebody service).

AA supported an AC as recently as 2013 in KC, so this addition seems plausible. DL dropped the KC lounge earlier (2008?).

[GRID]

I really foresee MCI as a soon to be powerhouse airport for the Midwest region as a whole. This facility will allow us to fully utilize our geographic position, and with nearly all major US airlines either already having, or planning to start service soon, I see us on an upward trajectory with this new terminal.

I have always said this, but I also think KC was just too slow and the airlines (especially southwest) have become too established elsewhere and they seem happy elsewhere and continue to expand. KC will basically get back to where it was.

Had that terminal opened ten years sooner, KCI would probably already be constructing a second terminal or at least a major gate expansion. I think KC will get more flights, might even get a BA flight if the city subsidizes it. But KC missed the boat on pushing passenger traffic at KCI toward 20 million I think. Not to mention, this new terminal is kind of bare bones with fewer than 40 gates, no lounges etc. Denver, MSP and DFW are just too big and once Southwest decided to put flights in Den instead of MCI, it was kind of over as far as MCI being a focus city. Denver has basically added an expansion the size of the new MCI just to accommodate Southwest alone.

But KC will at least have a respectable airport. Hopefully over time, airlines give KC another shot at being at least a regional focus city. KC needs to get more flights to Omaha, Des Moines, Wichita, Tulsa, Springfield/Branson etc to grow O/D traffic to support more connecting flights. KC has a much larger regional market to pull from than many of KC's peer cities, but it's not taking advantage.

[flyingember]

Neither of us will be a hub, but I could see KC grabbing the traffic and them wanting to move towards KC than paying for STL

Hubs vary by name, they're not always called hubs. SW calls them operating bases. Frontier I've seen Focus City used.

KC is the second smallest US airport by numbers that's not one for at least one airline.

[normalthings]

Neither of us will be a hub, but I could see KC grabbing the traffic and them wanting to move towards KC than paying for STL

Hubs vary by name, they're not always called hubs. SW calls them operating bases. Frontier I've seen Focus City used.

KC is the second smallest US airport by numbers that's not one for at least one airline.

STL is a Southwest “intentional connecting opportunity”. Basically a hub of sorts. I think they have around 18 gates there. Would have been more by now if not covid.

I think we could try and grab that from them. Agree that what Southwest is doing in Denver could and should have been us. Huge missed opportunity

[shaffe]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I'd be just fine if Southwest didn't continue to dominate 2/3 of the flights out of MCI. It's better than no option, but I'd like more competition from the legacy carriers.

[normalthings]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I'd be just fine if Southwest didn't continue to dominate 2/3 of the flights out of MCI. It's better than no option, but I'd like more competition from the legacy carriers.

The legacies don't do much P2P flying outside of their hubs/focus cities. Southwest does but we are pretty much maxed out on what we can support with just O&d. The only step forward is to become an ICO.

[KCPowercat]

I hate that SWA is our biggest carrier because of the flying experience they provide but that's for another thread