The Aviation Department will present renovation plans submitted for Kansas City International Airport on Tuesday with input from the airlines.
Crawford Architects submitted the latest design, supported by Councilwoman Teresa Loar. It includes a full renovation that would widen the terminals, replace off of the heating and cooling and update the infrastructure for a price tag of about $340 million per terminal, starting with terminal A.
Loar explained, "We pay as you go. We bond out what we need at the time so those bonds are paying off as you into terminal B and the same with C."
Patrick Tuohey with the Show-Me Institute believes even that is too much.
"The Aviation Department is trying to fix a problem the airport doesn't have. Ridership is up last year, it is a very convenient airport, people of Kansas City love it, it's been rated very high nationally," said Tuohey. "The risk is we build something new and shiny and it hurts us. It becomes so expensive to fly out of here that people just go elsewhere."
Where would the money come from?
Right now, it costs an airline about $5.56 per passenger to fly out of KCI. If a new or renovated airport comes in at or over $1 billion, Tuohey says that price could quadruple and make it much more expensive for airlines.
"We've picked up Spirit Airlines recently, we've picked up Allegiant Airlines exactly because they serve cheap airports and MCI is that. Even if Southwest and other airlines say, 'Yes, we think you should build this,, if it becomes too expensive for them to serve, they'll fly out of somewhere else," Tuohey shared.
Loar agreed, "I mean, we have to be cognizant how much money is going to be spent here even though it's not taxpayer dollars, those who are flying are going to pay the price for building this new airport. Kansas City is growing, but we're not Denver or Dallas or Chicago yet."
How did we get here?
In 2014, the mayor and City Council formed the Leadership Committee for KCI, made up of the airlines and local leaders. The group laid out a timeline for deciding on the future of the airport with two priorities: affordability and customer convenience.
Southwest Airlines sent us a statement saying, "We are moving along right with the Exhibit K schedule and process."
The deadline to submit a final recommendation to the City Council is May 2016. Based on estimates released in late 2015, it would cost slightly less to rebuild the airport rather than renovate.
On Tuesday, the airlines that operate at KCI will weigh in at City Hall along with the aviation department.
What happens next?
Loar says the council is still in the information-gathering phase and there are still a lot of questions to answer. She told 41 Action News it could be a year before the council makes a decision and then it will still be put up for a vote.
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Dia Wall can be reached at dia.wall@kshb.com.
