KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Progress with building a new airport in Kansas City has slowed after a disagreement between large and small airlines at the airport.
“It took six years to get to this point and I am not going to get to this point to see it fail because different agendas that are not in the best interest of this city are being pushed,” said Mayor Sly James.
Frustration continues to grow in the effort to build a new airport in Kansas City.
It seems weekly, there is a new wrinkle in the project and some council members are fed up with people saying the plan is not moving fast enough.
“The people of this city voted for the airlines to pay for the airport. Right now we do not have that agreement from the airlines. And those pushing us to move forward, how are we going to pay for it,” said Councilwoman Teresa Loar.
Voters approved the new airport knowing the airlines would pay for it. Now, some of the airlines are not on board.
After the airlines asked for more gates, the price went up. The total cost is now nearing $2 billion.
But according to Director of Aviation Pat Klein the fight isn’t over the entire cost, it's over $20 million dollars.
“It's not an issue of total cost. There are reports the airlines are fighting because the cost is too high, that is not true. It is the issue of how the baggage handling system cost allocation gets divided up between the eight airlines,” said Pat Klein.
“We will not allow this project, so important to the city be the platform for the resolution of national issues and disputes between large and small airline carriers,” said James.
