What nonstop flight could be next for Wichita’s airport

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Most travelers prefer nonstop flights to get to their destinations, depending on cost. Wichita Eisenhower National Airport offers 11 year-round nonstop flights and five seasonal ones.

On Friday, Wichita’s Director of Airports Jesse Romo named five additional routes the city is trying to get: New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Charlotte.

The dark blue lines show where Wichita wants to have nonstop service. (Courtesy City of Wichita)

“Charlotte is amazingly the third largest hub in the world, and that is a huge American hub that’s been growing, so that is one that we’ve got our eye on that we continuously talk to Americans about,” he said.

He said businesses have indicated New York is one of the targets they want to see next.

“There might be more opportunity in Newark vs. a JFK just because of slot restrictions with airlines,” Romo said. “It depends on who’s growing. United’s got the biggest hub, but they’re really not going to grow it this year.”

He thinks United may look at growth in 2025, and he said there are things Wichita can do to set the stage.

“At this point, the optimistic is maybe we can get closer in ’25, but that doesn’t mean we let off the gas in ’24,” Romo said. “We have to keep moving full steam ahead.”

He warned that it is unlikely the airport would be able to repeat 2023 when four nonstop flights were announced: Phoenix, Miami, Las Vegas, and Washington D.C.

“Last year was an anomaly,” he said. “Typically, it’s a very long process to get air service.”

ICT returning to normal

Romo covered several topics as he presented his annual report to the Wichita City Council on Friday.

He said airport revenue in 2023 was up eight percent over 2022, while expenses were five percent under budget.

Even though there were 11% fewer flights in and out of the airport, the number of passengers was close to the record-breaking year of 2019. Romo says it’s because airlines are shifting to bigger planes.

“We’re getting way from the regional, smaller jets and getting into the bigger aircraft, less pilots, less crews, less aircraft, so the airlines are responding accordingly,” he said.

He said the airline industry continues to face challenges, such as aircraft certifications, pilot shortages and air traffic control shortages.

“But we’re still expecting to see continued growth throughout the industry over the next couple years,” Romo said.

Staffing issues

Romo said the airport is facing the same staffing challenges as other businesses.

“It’s a competitive market right now, right, and so it’s a reduced workforce,” he said.

He said other companies offer signing bonuses, incentives and better salaries than Wichita can.

“In ’23, the amount of hires that we had about equaled the amount of exits that we had,” Romo said. “It takes a lot of effort to get people in and fully trained, and then we’re doing our best to try and fill those gaps.”

He said mechanic and HVAC positions are particularly difficult to fill. The airport operations division, which oversees construction and does safety inspections, only has five or six workers. If one or two of them leave, it is a significant hit to staffing levels.

“They’ll get their feet wet into the airport operations environment and get a lot of experience in things that are going on out there, and we usually see them grow and develop and take on bigger roles at bigger airports,” Romo said. “So, that’s a lot of what that turnover is.”

He said the airport grounds and fleet division is short on equipment operators and mechanics. They are trying to cross-train others to help with snow removal.

“It takes a lot of training for them to know where the (runway) lights are,” Romo said. “You knock out the wrong light, and you could shut down an entire runway.”

Change coming to screening passengers

Passengers are used to getting screened by the Transportation Security Administration, but Romo said the TSA is changing things to give the duty to local airports. He is not happy about it.

“They created this new amendment to us and said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to do it now.’ So we have to create a new program, create new training standards, get all this ramped up,” Romo said.

He said the TSA originally wanted airports to take over in five months, but airports complained, and the TSA changed it to one year.

“Starting next year, we’re going to be in a position where we’re going to end up having to hire more staff,” Romo said. “It’s a national policy, so it’s going to have cost ramifications to us.”

He hopes national airport associations or Congress can intervene before it happens.

Parking garage

The parking garage is a “huge revenue generator” for the airport. Romo said the staff is working on a $2.5 million project to make electronic vehicle charging stations possible for rental car agencies and airport customers.

“One of the things we had was a request from rental car companies to do this, and so we are building out the infrastructure in the parking garage first in order to sustain the additional electrical load and draw,” he said.

He hopes to complete most of the infrastructure by the end of 2024.

What’s next for the airport?

The last airport master plan was done in 2005. Romo said it is time for another one. The airport has already selected a consultant.

“There will be a lot of stakeholder engagement, and we’ll be utilizing our Airport Advisory Board and other people to participate in giving us input and feedback,” he said.

Romo says the project will be a 20-year outlook for the airport. He expects it to kick off this year.