Hooray!
39 gates. 225 local partners. 5,000 construction-related projects. 6,200 parking spots. 1 million square feet. The largest single infrastructure project in Kansas City’s history. Meet the brand new Kansas City International Airport.
“HELLO!” it shrieks. “HELLO!”
Featuring artwork from nineteen local artists, a split lower and upper deck for arrivals and departures, MCI (a misleading title, I should say)’s new terminal opened on February 28, 2023.
Should we be concerned that the priciest building project in Kansas City is a building built for us to leave? Let us not. Let us assume that the city of Kansas City is quite fond of us, and they built it to attract new friends.
“I like planes,” says Sam Golladay ‘26.
“I love planes,” says Aun Hathiari ‘26.
“I adore planes,” says Sarah Villacorta ‘26.
The issue in need of a 1.5 million dollar fixing was, interestingly enough, that the old airport (we’re beginning to talk of it like an old sock) was built in a pre- 9/11, pre- TSA era, where one could, essentially, waltz from their car to their plane, in as much ease as an overeasy easel eating some cheese.
Southwest Flight #3369 to Chicago at 10:25 p.m. on Feb. 27 was the last departing flight. If you are reading this and had a ticket on that flight, stop by the B-Line office (room 125) for a shiny reward.
MCI was built, as it is, out of a certain degree of vanity. For where else to impress but there where foreigners trample around.
The new MCI airport claims (rightfully so) to be fountain-ridden, service animal relief area-ridden and commercial curb space for taxicabs-ridden. With all-inclusive play areas, gracious crowd circulation, premium lounges, and live music (to paraphrase the MCI/KCI website), there is no better place to be stranded (at least, for fountain-splashing, animal-relieving, play-including, circulator-graciousing, loungers).
Something long beloved of the old airport were the floors; not merely scuffed, concrete things begging to be stomped on, but whimsically tiled, fascinating patterns, said to have been ‘celebrated by industry groups’ (whatever that means; it evokes images of floor tiles blowing out birthday candles). Sensing this, “many of the medallions will be meticulously relocated to the new terrazzo flooring of the new terminal,” as written by a journalist at the Kansas Reflector.
The main complaint of the new airport, speaking of floors, are the floors, which are scuffed, concrete things begging to be stomped on. Mayer Quinton Lucas called it “a great source of aggravation.” But, if floors are the only complaint, the airport is doing something right.
That same journalist (what a coincidence!) noted that now that there is a new airport to look forward to, everybody is spitting insults at the old one. The new airport is said to evoke emotions of the contrary sort.
The new KCI airport strikes interest all around. Airplanes, besides being significantly bad for our environment, fascinate people to the same extent that Antarctica does. For the un-engineeringly-minded, they seem like nothing short of magic. Engineers are, though, thinking about garbage-powered airplanes.
The new airport has interesting ceilings too.
Southwest Airlines built a balloon rainbow to placate gruntled airport-critics and frazzled travelers.
Besides for featuring artwork and chairs, MCI welcomes heaps of local Kansas City stores (excluding, quite rightfully, the greedy, over-appreciated Starbucks), including Made in KC (for any foreigners who might feel the urge to buy a Kansas City T-Shirt), Messenger Coffee, and a LEGO store (which isn’t really local, but that’s okay).
Originally opened in 1956 and called Kansas city Mid-Continental International Airport (hence the “MCI” of “KCI”), our new airport is such stuff as dreams are made on.
