“One of the things we’re doing is we’re creating an air travel experience,” said Justin Meyer, deputy director of aviation - marketing and air service development, Kansas City Aviation Department.
Meyer, who was the guest speaker at the KC Downtowners’ June luncheon, discussed construction progress on the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport (KCI), amenities and the state of airline service from Kansas City.
Meyer confirmed that the new terminal will open March 2023, with the exact date yet to be determined. The $1.5 billion project is 99.9 percent procured. Meyer said the aviation department is very confident in its ability to deliver the project on budget.
Meyer stressed that the project is a new terminal, not a new airport.
“It is the same airport. It’s just a new building that will be replacing the other two buildings that are currently in use — Terminal B and Terminal C. The new terminal is located where Terminal A used to be,” he said.
Terminals B and C will be demolished, and the space they occupy will be used to construct a large winter weather de-icing pad.
“Right now our airlines de-ice their aircraft at the gates and spray all the chemicals on the aircraft as they’re pushed back from the terminal, and then we try to collect that. . . . So it will certainly be a better, more efficient and more environmentally-friendly end result,” Meyer said.
The airport is getting a new 6,000 space parking garage, which will increase parking capacity by approximately 50 percent. Meyer said the garage was designed to be a bit future proof. In the event demand for parking significantly changes (eg., the use of autonomous vehicles that park offsite), Meyer said there could be other uses of the lower level of the garage, like a rental car return.
The garages currently serving the B and C terminals will remain. Meyer said the B terminal garage will become employee parking, creating a significant cost savings and improvement to employee quality of life. The aviation department currently spends more than $1 million annually to bus employees between the terminals and a parking lot located near I-29 and Mexico City Avenue.
Meyer said the new parking garage is located closer to the terminal than the existing parking garages.
“We heard loud and clear that Kansas City wanted to maintain convenience and when pressed to convenience, 90 percent of the time that meant short walking distances. We did everything we could at this facility to minimize walking distances for passengers,” he said.
The roadway system serving the terminal will have two levels — upper level drop offs and lower level pickups. KCI is the largest airport in the United States today that does not separate arrival from departure, Meyer said.
The new terminal has two concourses linked by a concourse connector. Moving walkways already have been installed.
Seven large baggage claim devices will be located on the lower level and be shared among all air carriers. The baggage system conveyors cover 2.5 miles.
When the terminal opens, it will have the largest, all-glass passenger bridge facility in the United States, making for a better experience as travelers board their aircraft, Meyer said.
Bathrooms also have been designed for traveler convenience. Each concourse has three restroom cores with multi-user, all gender restrooms as well as gender specific restrooms. Both mens’ and womens’ restrooms will have baby-changing tables, and there will be a total of 10 nursing rooms. Some of the restroom cores will include adult-sized changing tables.
“So regardless of your preference, we’re going to have restrooms for everybody. . . . So (we’ve paid) attention to inclusivity and accessibility, and we’re really leaning hard on that,” said Meyer.
The airport project is the beneficiary of Kansas City, Missouri’s One Percent for Art Program, receiving one percent of the construction costs for art procurement.
“That means as the City’s largest single infrastructure project at $1.5 billion, we’re also the City’s largest art procurement project,” Meyer said.
Art will be placed throughout the entire facility, featuring the works of 28 artists, 19 of whom have local ties. And a bit of the old terminal art will remain as well. All 40 medallion mosaics inlaid in the floor of the old Terminal A are sprinkled throughout the new terminal.
Additional amenities will include two interior pet relief areas, a concessions area featuring Kansas City brands, lights on the ceiling of the parking garage and above bathroom stalls to indicate open spaces, a sensory room, and a dedicated site on the departures level where wheelchairs will be located. Meyer said there are no plans to use ride on carts in the new facility.
In addition, the aviation department has partnered with USO Missouri to to create a USO for the first time at KCI, which will be located on the terminal’s lower level.
Meyer said there are plans to purchase the front of an aircraft, rebuild it and make it available to travelers to “test drive” the air travel experience without having to purchase a ticket first.
Meyer said air travel in Kansas City, sharply impacted by the pandemic, currently is at approximately 83 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
Southwest Airlines removed approximately 70,000 monthly seats, or 23 percent, out of the Kansas City market. Meyer said efforts are underway to try to get Southwest back.
“My hope is that the new facility will encourage an airline like Southwest to start thinking about doing a little bit of connecting, a little bit of flow over our market which then kind of subsidizes or backfills demand,” he said.
Meyer said the cutback by Southwest and other airlines is not because they don’t want to fly to markets like Kansas City, but they are grappling with pilot shortages and delays in aircraft deliveries.
Updates on the airport project can be found at www.buildkci.com
_________________________________________
Feature image: Latest rendering showing view from the parking garage entrance of MCI's new terminal, scheduled for a March 2023 completion date. Image courtesy of Build KCI.