KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Plans are moving forward to demolish terminal A at the Kansas City International Airport and build a new, $1.2 billion single-hub airport within the next five years. But a group of Kansas City residents who love this airport are doing what they can to save it.
The Kansas City City Council approved the plans to rebuild KCI a week and a half ago, and they are moving forward to secure funding to build it. KCI officials say the current three terminal system is expensive to maintain because the buildings are 40 years old and they have to staff 16 separate security checkpoints while a new building would have one security checkpoint. They say no city tax dollars would be used to finance it. Instead, they would use grants from the FAA along with bonds paid for by those who fly in and out of KCI.
But the group SaveKCI doesn’t think rebuilding the airport is necessary. Supporters point to a JD Powers and Associates study that recently ranked KCI number one in customer satisfaction for medium sized airports. On their website SaveKCI.com, they say they’ve filed a referendum with the city, stating their intentions to put the decision on whether to rebuild KCI on the ballot and let the voters decide. They will need to collect 7,200signatures in the next 30 days to do that. On their online petition, they’ve collected 150 signatures.
To learn more about their efforts, visit savekci.com or follow them on Twitter: @savekci.