Why Kansas City Tore Down the Airport It Loved

Kansas City International's three ring-shaped terminals let you drive to your gate and walk about 75 feet to the plane. Residents told pollsters they liked it, a councilman called it the most convenient airport in the country — and in November 2017 three out of four voters approved tearing the terminals down. This is why. The film follows the airport from the 1951 flood that threatened TWA's overhaul base in Kansas City, through the 1953 site chosen as part of an effort to keep TWA, the 1966 bond vote, and the "drive to your gate" design whose basic idea came from TWA's engineering chief, built for a city where planners counted only about eight percent of passengers changing planes. Weeks after the November 1972 opening, the Federal Aviation Administration's screening rule forced a security checkpoint at every gate. TWA built its connecting hub in St. Louis in 1982 but stayed in Kansas City as a major employer for two more decades. The terminals worked for local travellers until September 11, 2001, a $258 million renovation rebuilt them from the inside, and by 2014–2017 a task force, the airlines' cost case and a ballot promise of "airport revenues only" carried the vote for a single new terminal. Then the bill: the $1.5 billion terminal that opened on 28 February 2023 is paid from the airport's own income — parking first, then concessions and rental cars — with the airlines covering whatever is left under a residual agreement that runs to 30 April 2028. What airlines pay per boarding passenger rose from $6.33 (fiscal 2019) to $15.57 (fiscal 2025, preliminary), in dollars of each year, and the special-obligation bonds run to 2057. A note on the record: the 1966 vote count and the planners' eight-percent premise come from a 1976 NASA-funded study based on interviews; a 1974 FAA count shows far more connecting passengers, and no source we found explains the gap. We found no document explaining why TWA chose St. Louis. Sources include: Architectural Record, October 1972 and November 1973 Starling et al., Technology and Politics of a Regional Airport (NASA grant NSG-2006, 1976): https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/1... FAA Section 106 finding and historic evaluation, 2018: https://www.airportprojects.net/histo... U.S. Senate hearing on S.1218, 12 June 1985 (testimony of Kansas City and St. Louis): https://archive.org/download/internat... Federal Register 37 FR 2500 (Feb 1972) and 37 FR 25934 (Dec 1972); DOT testimony to the House, Feb 1973 Kansas City Ordinance 170836 and the November 2017 Question 1 ballot and official results Official Statement, Series 2020 Airport Special Obligation Bonds; Kansas City Aviation Department Annual Comprehensive Financial Report FY2025 MCI Master Plan (2026 drafts) and airport traffic reports: https://flykc.com KCUR, Northeast News, WBUR, Building Design + Construction, Lawrence Journal-World #KansasCity #KCI #Aviation More sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e...