New Airport or Not

Saturday, September 07, 2013
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
I am home, a day late but none the worse for it.

There is controversy in Kansas City over whether or not to build a new airport . There shouldn't be.

Here at MSP, travelers are welcomed into a bright, crisp and clean, welcoming environment which is the rank opposite of what greets those arriving at MCI. There are shops and restaurants and bars and shoe shine stands and a plethora of food choices. At YVR (Vancouver), the airport envelops you and gives you many choices of what to do while you wait for your flight. Even Anchorage is warm, welcoming and replete with options of things to do, eat, see or watch.

In Kansas City, there is none of that.

True, in KC, travelers can quickly walk to their waiting automobiles which are only steps from their aircraft. However, if those travelers have checked luggage, they save no time from the Kansas City arrangement because it still takes twenty or more minutes to deliver baggage. Unless one cannot walk comfortably, (and there are lots of wheelchairs for them) little is really gained and much is lost from the Kansas City layout.

Kansas City's airport design was a stroke of genius for a time long past. Security concerns, service innovations, new ideas and more have obsoleted our aging MCI.

I feel that the controversy over the new Kansas City Airport proposal exists because of at least two important factors. The first is that those who support the idea have done a poor job of making their case. The second is that those who oppose the idea strike me as folks who are against most every change that someone may propose. I hope I am wrong about this point but Isuspect I am right. It is easy to be against things these days. It is hard to be for something.

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