Airlines’ report on latest KCI renovation idea expected Feb. 2

Consultants for the airlines at Kansas City International Airport are expected to present their assessment on Feb. 2 of the latest concept for preserving the airport’s existing horse-shoe configuration.

Kansas City-based Crawford Architects and a team of global aviation firms have offered a rival plan to earlier preferred options for a single new terminal at the airport.

That Crawford concept, done at the companies’ expense and shared with The Kansas City Star, proposes a more modest and less expensive renovation of Terminal A, which could later be replicated at Terminal B. The plan was publicized in Wednesday’s Kansas City Star and generated lots of reaction, both positive and negative.

“I think it’s a really good, sound idea,” said Dan Coffey, who had worried about an expensive new airport and led a citizens petition drive to ensure Kansas City residents vote on any major airport improvements.

For more than four years, Kansas City leaders and residents have debated the best approach to modernizing the 43-year-old airport. The aviation department in late 2011 floated the idea of replacing the existing three terminals with a new single-terminal, as the most efficient and practical way of dealing with post- 9/11  security, technology, airline mergers and passenger travel needs.

Since then, many people have said they prefer preservation and renovation of two existing terminals, rather than an entirely new, single terminal, and the debate is far from over.

The Crawford proposal springboarded off the public’s affection for KCI, but city officials said it needed to be scrutinized, to make sure its cost estimates are accurate and that it can meet the airport’s needs well into the future, as a single terminal would be designed to do.

The assessment of the Crawford plan is now being done by the consulting firm AvAirPros, which is working with the airlines at KCI. Its review should be available for the City Council’s Aviation Committee meeting on Feb. 2, said Patrick Klein, assistant city manager who serves as the city’s liaison on airport improvements.

If the Crawford proposal is viable and also more economical than other options, it could save money for the airlines and their passengers, Klein said.

“They should want to look at this,” he said Wednesday.

Dan Landson, a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, Kansas City’s largest carrier, said Wednesday the plan is being carefully reviewed by the airlines and other industry professionals, and that review should be completed by the end of the month.

On Dec. 10, an aviation study group told the City Council that it would actually be less expensive and more practical to build a new terminal than to do a gut rehab and reconstruction of two existing terminals. The renovations were estimated to cost $1.04 billion or $1.19 billion, while new terminal options came in at $964 million or $972 million.

The Crawford group has offered a different approach, which calls for widening much of Terminal A but keeping the existing horse-shoe configuration and expanding the parking garage, at an estimated cost of $335.6 million. Once Terminal A was completed and several airlines moved in there, Terminal B could be improved at a similar cost plus inflation.

City Councilwoman Teresa Loar, who remains highly skeptical about the single terminal plan and enlisted Crawford Architects to look at renovation options, said Wednesday she had gotten lots of positive feedback to the idea.

“It looks as though we’ve got a great plan,” she said, adding that it preserves a unique and iconic airport that Kansas City has grown to love.

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, who represents the Northland district that includes the airport, said he was encouraged to see this new KCI proposal but he wasn’t sure it would be given fair consideration when the city has signaled its preference for a new single terminal.

“Regardless, this shows that there are other options,” the Missouri Republican said in an emailed statement, “and it is progress to see a plan that is more cost-effective and that also takes steps to maintain the convenience that KCI’s customers value.”

But that feeling isn’t universal, judging from comments on The Star’s website and other feedback Wednesday.

John Fierro, who served on a citizens task force that spent nearly a year looking at airport improvement options, said he still thinks a new terminal is preferable for job creation and for “really positioning us for the future.”

Others said the two terminals are cramped, hopelessly outdated, have no space for international flights, and need to be replaced rather than fixed.

The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce has spoken out in the past about the need for a new, modern single-terminal airport. On Wednesday, Chamber President Jim Heeter said in a statement, “While we don’t expect a new KCI to be a Taj Mahal, we do want it to be affordable, practical, convenient, built to live a long life, and adaptable. As the city moves forward with its review, those remain our criteria for support of the final design and financing plan.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Airlines’ report on latest KCI renovation idea expected Feb. 2."