Not living here, you don’t know the history of the Kansas City Missouri city council. Without their interference, it would have been built by now (the first studies for a new airport were commissioned in 2010). There is very little cooperation between the various municipalities making up the KC region. The only cooperation between the municipalities on opposite sides of State Line was in restoring the train station in KCMO. The airport referendum was postponed for several years because the polls indicated that the voters of KCMO would not approve a new airport. I’m not opposed to a new airport, particularly since people living here don’t directly pay for it. I’m skeptical on how much more traffic will go through MCI with just Southwest Airlines having a significant presence. I’m not sure if there has ever been an explanation of what happens if an airline pulls out of MCI or goes bankrupt over the next 30 years, while the bond are being paid off. Are the other carriers obligated to pick up the financial slack, or would it come back to the citizens of KCMO? It should be an interesting few years until completion. By the time it is completed, a decision will have to come over the baseball/football stadiums. I assume the consensus will be to tear down and not renovate. My guess is that 1 or preferably multiple Super Bowl victories will make that decision easier to swallow for the voters in Jackson County (they envelope KCMO and several other municipalities and are responsible for the Stadium’s upkeep).

Ridiculous is right. No one suggest MCI will now have fine dining.

And take a look look at the studies. Flight fares don’t increase because of a new terminal. Capital projects like this are spread across the system. We’ve been paying for new terminals for years in KC - just not our own.

I’ve heard that the MCI airport authority has hired former KC and San Francisco quarterback Steve Bono to be head of the committee that will choose which restaurants will be allowed to lease space at the new MCI. That way, MCI’s new restaurants will at least be better than the worst restaurant at SFO.

I feel about airports about the same as I feel about cars. All I care about is getting from point ATo B, in reasonable comfort. I don’t care about owning expensive, new cars with all the bells and whistles. I don’t care if an airport has restaurants galore and provide a shopping experience. What I do realize is the perception that these things matter to business travelers and their companies. Those are the forces driving the demand for a new airport. If a new airport is the guiding force behind getting some companies to relocate here, maybe it’s worth it. Besides, the people living here aren’t being asked to pay for it in higher taxes or bonds. I can’t say that, as the day gets closer to completion, I’m going to be extremely excited about it.