KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Leaders from Missouri and Kansas gathered Monday to celebrate the opening of the new single-terminal Kansas City International Airport with federal officials during a ceremony and ribbon-cutting.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, Kansas Lt. Gov. David Toland, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri and Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas joined other leaders at the ceremony in at the new terminal, which will officially open on Tuesday.
Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas emceed the event — which also included his predecessor, Sly James, airport officials and officials with Edgemoor, which led the terminal's construction.
Lucas said the new $1.5-billion terminal was delivered on time and on budget. Buttigieg said that less than 1% of billion-dollar projects meet both of those criteria.
"Congratulations, Kansas City, on your well-deserved and world class new gateway to the world," said Geoff Stricker, director at Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate.
Lucas also said the arrival of this "new gateway" to Kansas City builds on momentum from the Kansas City Chiefs winning another Super Bowl; hosting the 2023 NFL Draft, which takes place in April at Union Station; and the winning bid to host 2026 FIFA World Cup games.
"We are proud to continue that celebratory spirit today," Lucas said.
Cleaver, another former KCMO mayor, believes the new terminal can be transformational.
"Municipal dreams die when community leaders and political leaders fail to seize the moment," he said. "The moment has been seized over and over again. This city is in motion."
Former KCMO Mayor Sly James, who was mayor when the project was conceived and won city council approval, celebrated those who helped bring the new terminal project to reality, including KCMO Director of Aviation Patrick Klein and the 78% of voters who voted for it.
"When you're talking about this airport project, which was like a seven-year pregnancy, we had to improvise, adapt and overcome," James said. "At the end of the day, this is what Kansas City needs."
Toland said that everyone who visits the Kansas City area has to have a top-notch experience from the moment they arrive.
"Now, they will," he said.
Parson also spoke Monday, sharing Toland's sentiment that the new terminal not only provides a great first impression for Kansas City but for the state of Missouri.
"The first impression is a lasting impression," Parson said. "Can you imagine the impression people are going to have of Kansas City and our state when they walk into this airport and see what it's like to come here? That, my friends, will be one of the biggest statements we can make, both Missouri and Kansas."
Buttigieg said the new KCI terminal is emblematic of airport improvements taking place nationwide.
"This is a historic period of revival and improvement in our country's physical infrastructure," he said.
Buttigieg joked that the terminal's "new airport smell" will quickly be drowned out by the smell of smoked barbecue that will greet travelers beginning Tuesday.
Buttigieg said everyone probably thinks about something different as they look around the terminal, but what he thinks about most are the stories and the lives shaped by the new terminal — from careers, to families and romances.
"The stories, plural, of the people who will come here for work, or for travel, and how their lives will be shaped for the better by this terrific facility," he said. "It's also the story of our country, stepping forward in the awareness that, if we are to lead in the 21st century, as we led the 20th, we must have world-class infrastructure."
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