OFFICIAL - New KCI Terminal

[alejandro46]

This is a great idea and kudos to Platt and the city for spearheading working through this. Sounds like Evergy could get back involved in making it happen.

[daGOAT]

This is a great idea and kudos to Platt and the city for spearheading working through this. Sounds like Evergy could get back involved in making it happen.

Fingers crossed. I'm hoping the Hawthorne plant gets the same treatment and the entire city runs on solar power, with a solid back up plan ofc.

[earthling]

The nice thing is that solar panels sill have a lot of room for efficiency improvements. Modern panels today absorb about 20% or so of sunlight energy hitting panel converted to electricity. Five years ago it was below 15%. There are some in proof of concept stage that can covert 30%. So as panel tech efficiency improves over time and the airport panels lifecycle out they can be replaced by more efficient panels over the years allowing for more Watts in same size field. Shouldn't be an issue to stay on top of renewable energy needs for data centers, especially if combining other renewable formats.

There's a slick damless hydro approach where you dig a tunnel (or diversion) at a river bend and run water through mini turbines then back into river, no impact to potential barge/recreational traffic. KC and Evergy need to look into this.

[Elrod]

Been catching up on threads for a bit lately after an absence from KCRag. This one made for interesting reading.

I loved this line from Sani regarding the glass jet bridges:

I'm glad we sprung for those instead of the windowless ones made of corrugated steel, fluorescent lighting, and despair.

Those enclosed corrugated-steel jetways with no windows always made me think: Is this what livestock feel like going into the rendering plant?

The "everything seems narrow" meme was a welcome laugh at the end of a hard week. All of you are nuts. Don't ever change.

Then I came across this:

...The colors are really what makes me feel that the overall design is meant to bring a calm vibe to the sometimes-hectic airplane travel experience...

For example, Brightline in Florida has a nice citrus smell in all three of their stations, but the colors inside are a bit harsh. The citrus smells "wakes you up" in a way. But like the new KC airport and other newer airports, natural light helps brighten someone's mood.

This reminded me of my first flight into Maui. Got off the plane, walking into the airport, thought it was nice after having breathed processed air for several hours that someone had the presence of mind to pipe subtle flower scents into the airport. Walked a little further and suddenly realized...this airport is completely open to the outside. That's just the natural scent in the air here. That was special.

I realize that Kansas City's new airport can't naturally smell like barbecue. Or maybe it can, at least near the City Market area? Not having been in it yet with everything up and running, I can't say for sure. I'll be watching the reviews when it opens, though.

[FangKC]

The New LaGuardia Is Haunted by the Mistakes of its Past

An $8 billion overhaul has transformed the long-reviled New York airport. But LaGuardia’s troubled history can’t be fully overcome.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... ow-organic

[dnweava]

There is a new video on "the B1M" youtube channel about the Denver airport. It's crazy they are planning for 100 million passengers within the next few years and they are a metro roughly the same size as STL.

I wonder if the new KCI will be able to pull some traffic away from Denver to be a more logical mid-continent hub. We have less severe winters and are closer to the east coast hubs.

[SingleMalt12]

There is a new video on "the B1M" youtube channel about the Denver airport. It's crazy they are planning for 100 million passengers within the next few years and they are a metro roughly the same size as STL.

I wonder if the new KCI will be able to pull some traffic away from Denver to be a more logical mid-continent hub. We have less severe winters and are closer to the east coast hubs.

DIA is a hub for United, Frontier and to an extent Southwest. It can snow a foot overnight & be 60 in a few hours. It is the largest airport in the U.S. by land area & has 146 gates. So yeah, MCI should be able to pull some traffic away. Logical

[GRID]

Or just get some traffic back that was originally planned for KC. Southwest was not even in Denver back when they wanted to make KC a focus city. Not sure if that ship has sailed or not.

[normalthings]

Or just get some traffic back that was originally planned for KC. Southwest was not even in Denver back when they wanted to make KC a focus city. Not sure if that ship has sailed or not.

It has. SW has more gates there than the entire new KCI terminal will have for all airlines

[Anthony_Hugo98]

Or just get some traffic back that was originally planned for KC. Southwest was not even in Denver back when they wanted to make KC a focus city. Not sure if that ship has sailed or not.

I doubt it’s sailed. SW was one of the primary drivers for new terminal at MCI, and were incredibly engaged with edgemoore and the city with the project. I’d image one (or a couple) airline(s) pursue MCI hub status, or at the very least a focus city in the years following new terminal opening. We’ll be the only central city in the US served by JB, Delta is looking to open a lounge here, and SW still dominates the KC market by more than 1/3rd. We’re well positioned going forward to say the least.

[GRID]

Or just get some traffic back that was originally planned for KC. Southwest was not even in Denver back when they wanted to make KC a focus city. Not sure if that ship has sailed or not.

It has. SW has more gates there than the entire new KCI terminal will have for all airlines

Still say that if KC had rebuilt KCI 10-15 years sooner, KCI would have a large chunk of what Denver has now and Denver would still be a major world hub. Same with StL.

Maybe KC can get at least some of those flights from DEN and STL once they have a respectable terminal.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

Or just get some traffic back that was originally planned for KC. Southwest was not even in Denver back when they wanted to make KC a focus city. Not sure if that ship has sailed or not.

It has. SW has more gates there than the entire new KCI terminal will have for all airlines

Still say that if KC had rebuilt KCI 10-15 years sooner, KCI would have a large chunk of what Denver has now and Denver would still be a major world hub. Same with StL.

Maybe KC can get at least some of those flights from DEN and STL once they have a respectable terminal.

No doubt, we definitely shot ourselves in the foot and squandered our geographic advantage for the better half of half a century

[KCPowercat]

I think we will get a lot from STL.

[AlkaliAxel]

I just wanna keep getting more lounges built. Keep pursuing that too.

Also, will the new MCI have a currency exchange desk like Denver’s does?

[KCPowercat]

Doubtful. Less useful than they used to be and rip offs anyways

[dukuboy1]

I think the SW stuff changed once they were allowed to have more flights or their scheduled or whatever changed in Dallas and Love Field. KC was the closest major airport at the time they were limited in Dallas and we benefited. But when that changed so did the need for KCI.

However SW is one of the biggest carriers here and draws from the surrounding region. As airlines stop serving some of those area or change their model KC may benefit more. But I feel SW is still going to be a big player in KC and I hope that bring other choices like Jet Blue. Alaskan Airlines, and more Delta, United, etc. I'm excited to see what the airport can do when it can actively pursue more flights and air carriers because it has the capacity and facilities to do so.

[dev49]

I feel like a lot of people on here are making assumptions/hopes without really knowing the landscape.

Southwest literally just added more gates at Denver, on top of what they already had, than KCI will have total for Southwest. Nothing will be pulled from Denver to KCI. If anything that hampers KCIs chances for Southwest expansion because now they can run so many more flights thru Denver and overfly KCI (and everyone else).

Southwest also is still going to have more gates at STL than KCI. They have 17 at STL, which gives them room to grow. They have over twice as many flights at STL than they do at KCI. They are a big reason STL is going to build a new terminal.

I don’t see KCI pulling flights from either one of those.

I DO however see KCI growing their own flights on Southwest, but it isn’t going to be “pulling” from somewhere else. It doesn’t need to be. Southwest is getting a bunch of new planes and needs somewhere to fly them. KC will pick up some new routes that are being hampered by lack of connections in the current airport.

I think as someone else mentioned if this terminal was 10-15 years ago things might be different. But in the last decade Nashville and Denver have exploded for Southwest and STL has had a big bump also. Southwest is about to become less restricted in Dallas. So some of our surrounding cities kind of pulled away while we waited. Unfortunate, but there is no reason to look back now and worry about it. Gotta move forward.

That said, I really think Delta is going to be the airline to watch in the new terminal, even more than Southwest.

[AlkaliAxel]

Agreed on Delta^. If they’re building the club, then you’d figure they may expand here

[WoodDraw]

What's the famous Churchill quote? America always does the right thing after it's exhausted all of the other options.

Should be the moto of KC.