28 February 2023
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the new terminal at KCI set to open tomorrow, the terminals that have been standing since 1972 must go. The city will tear the remaining circles down.
There will be a few more flights before the terminal doors close for the final time. The last flight will take off shortly after 10 p.m. Monday.
“There’s no place to eat, I got to wait in line for the bathroom, it’s old, it looks like it’s from 100 years ago,” traveler Josh Jackaway said.
“It doesn’t really give me a feeling of what Kansas City is, so it’s kind of a concrete, blank canvass,” Sandy Weiss said. Her first time flying into KCI was Monday.
An abundance of food options is one of the most noticeable changes in the new terminal.
“Better things to eat. I heard there’s going to be a good chicken place and some other things like that,” said James Luce, who is flying out of the airport two times a month.
“I hear the restaurants are like a huge upgrade. I’m already thinking about the food man, I don’t miss too many meals,” Jackaway said.
For many, the hope is that the new terminal will be more convenient, in others words, more like the airports in other cities that travelers are accustomed to.
“It was just time. We had to recognize it’s time for a change and I think now that we are going to make these technological advances. It’s going to put us on par with those airports in those major markets,” traveler Alex Campbell said.
“I feel like I get through security and I have to wait in line for like 10 people to go to the bathroom because the big bathrooms are on this side. So I think the little things like that just show this was dated, it’s from a bygone era!” Jackaway exclaimed.
Airport leaders tell FOX4 the plan is to tear down both Terminals B and C this summer. The space will then be used for terminal expansion and aircraft parking.
As the doors at the old terminal prepare to close for the last time, this $1.5 billion new terminal is what travelers say helps our city showcase itself.
“I think we are a world class city. I love Kansas City, I tell people all the time that we live in the greatest city — not just in the Midwest — but in the whole country. So I feel this new airport is just going to further representation of who we are,” Jackaway said.
The two parking garages for the old Terminals B and C won’t go anywhere. B will be for employees and C will be some sort of public parking.
For those who will fly out of the old terminal and park in one of those garages, the airport will have a red bus to run back and forth until they clear out all the cars from those garages