On Tuesday, Kansas City International Airport (MCI) officially opened its new US$1.5 billion terminal. The first flight to depart from the new terminal was a Southwest Airlines service to Chicago Midway.

A new terminal for Kansas City

This has been a very successful month for Kansas City. First, the city celebrated a new NFL championship after the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. Now, the city is celebrating opening a new terminal in its airport, allowing it to replace the old and outdated terminals that first opened in November 1972. The new terminal has 40 gates, measures just over one million square feet, and is the largest single infrastructure project in the city’s history. Design and construction efforts for the new terminal began in 2018.

During the opening of the new terminal, Pat Klein, Director of Aviation, thanked every stakeholder that had a piece of this project in the last ten years. Geoffrey Stricker, senior managing director at Edgemoor, said that this new terminal is the start of an exciting new journey for this region. “What a historic day for Kansas City. As the developer of the new terminal project, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside the outstanding men and women of this project team for more than five years. I am proud to stand up here and say together we did it,” he added. Edgemoor Infrastructure led the project.

Looking at the terminal

The new terminal features 40 gates and has the ability to expand up to 50 gates in the future. It has spacious gate areas, and nearly 50 local and national food, beverage, and shopping experiences.

Other amenities which are accessible to passengers of all airlines include a two-level curbside drop-off and pick-up design; a centralized security check area with 16 lanes including PreCheck and CLEAR kiosks, all-glass boarding bridges; premium lounges; gender-specific, all-gender, and family restrooms, and more.

The last flights in the old terminals were on February 27, at 10:25 PM, a Southwest Airlines departure to Chicago and a February 28, 12:38 AM Delta Air Lines arrival from Salt Lake City. The first departure and arrival in the New Terminal February 28 were both by Southwest Airlines, with a 5:00 AM departure to Chicago-Midway and a 7:40 AM arrival from Chicago-Midway.

In the past, Kansas City Airport had three terminals, inaugurated more than 50 years ago on November 11, 1972. Terminal A was razed to make way for the new Terminal, while terminals B and C remained in operations until today. They will now be razed, although Terminal B garage will remain and serve as employee parking, and Terminal C garage will be used for public parking in the future.

Southwest Airlines is the largest airline operating from Kansas City, operating around 375 weekly departing flights (from 892 in total). Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines are also key customers in the airport, with 167 and 161 weekly departures.

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