Kansas City International Airport

When Kansas City International Airport opened in 1972 at the former location of Mid-Continent Airport, it featured three curved terminals with gates that were only 75 feet from the roadway. With three runways and dozens of gates, along with the growth of Kansas City-based airlines like Braniff and TWA, residents were optimistic that their city would become one of the nation's largest airline hubs. Instead, the jet age made midwestern stopovers a thing of the past, and the airport's three terminals never reached their designed passenger capacity. With increased security measures, the once-convenient and car-centric three-terminal design proved untenable as it required multiple security checkpoints and passenger waiting areas. A new single terminal design was constructed between 2019 and 2023. The single terminal design eliminated the ability to "drive to your gate," a central selling point of the 1972 design. However, the new terminal makes it possible for travelers to move throughout the entire airport after passing through a central security checkpoint. The new terminal is also filled with work from local artists under the city's One Percent for Art program.

Kansas City's first public airport was dedicated in 1927 and operated as Municipal Airport at the present location of Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. The dedication included a speech by famed aviator Charles Lindbergh and was followed by the creation and expansion of nearby Fairfax Airport. Both airports were located near downtown Kansas City and were home to passenger service and military operations along with manufacturing and maintenance facilities.

A 1951 flood damaged Fairfax Airport, while the location of Municipal Airport on a peninsula along the Missouri River limited the airport's potential to serve the larger aircraft of the coming jet age by the 1960s. By this time, Kansas City had become a base of operations for Trans World Airlines, which operated maintenance facilities at Platte County's Mid-Continent Airport. Braniff Airlines also used Mid-Continent as a hub while most other passenger flights flew from downtown's Municipal Airport. Following numerous concerns about the short runways at Municipal Airport, Kansas City voters approved a 1966 bond measure to vastly expand Mid-Continent Airport, which reopened as Kansas City International Airport in 1972.

Promising the opportunity to "drive to your gate," many expected the novel design of the 1972 terminals at Kansas City International to become the standard. However, that same year, a series of hijackings led to the creation of security checkpoints at airports nationwide. Following additional security measures after the September 11th terror attacks, the circular design of the airport's three terminals required multiple security checkpoints throughout the three circular terminals. This also limited passengers to a narrow corridor after passing through security. Kansas City officials began to explore the possibility of a new terminal with a central security checkpoint that would allow passengers to move throughout the airport after passing through security instead of being confined to a waiting area near their gate.

After several years of planning, a $1.5 billion single terminal plan was approved. During construction, MCI operated out of Terminals B and C while Terminal A was demolished to provide space for the new single terminal. Kansas City residents celebrated the completion of the largest construction project in the city's history in February 2023, with thousands touring the new terminal before its grand opening.

Julius A. Karash, Rick Montgomery, and Doug Weaver, TWA: Kansas City's Hometown Airline (Kansas City, MO: Kansas City Star Books, 2001).

George R. Bauer, A Century of Kansas City Aviation History: The Dreamers and the Doers (Kansas City, MO: Historic Preservation Press, 1999).

Jason Roe, Plane Speaking Kansas City Public Library. https://kchistory.org/week-kansas-city-history/plane-speaking