KC officials announce opening date for new KCI airport terminal. Here are the details

Kansas City International Airport will officially open the new $1.5 billion single terminal the morning of Feb. 28, city officials announced Monday.

The grand opening comes nearly four years after the city first broke ground on the project.

“Kansas Citians, Missourians, Kansans, anyone from around the world who’s flying through KCI will see not just a state of the art airport, but an airport that tells the story of Kansas City, through our arts, through our businesses, through our culture through the folks that work here,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said during a news conference in KCI’s massive ticketing hall.

Lucas said the terminal is being completed on time and on budget.

The final departing flights from the existing terminals will take off on Feb. 27.

Passengers aboard the Southwest Flight No. 3369 to Chicago at 10:25 p.m. on Feb. 27 will be the last travelers scheduled to depart from the existing terminals. The last passengers scheduled to arrive at the existing terminals will be on Delta Flight No. 1412 from Salt Lake City, which is expected at 12:38 a.m. Feb. 28.

The first scheduled departure from the new terminal is Southwest Flight No. 904 to Chicago on at 5 a.m. Feb. 28. The first scheduled arrival to the new terminal is Southwest Flight No. 1980 from Chicago, which is expected to pull up to the gate at 7:40 a.m.

The announcement comes as construction workers scramble to get the remaining projects completed for the opening.

Earlier this month, airport officials said the “building is built” and construction crews were just working on the finishing components, including the retail and restaurant areas.

The announcement of the Feb. 28 opening date is exciting, but it adds pressure because there’s a lot of work left to do so the terminal opens successfully, said Kansas City Aviation Director Patrick Klein.

However, Klein said he won’t be watching the first plane depart.

“I want to see the customers early in the morning when they start sort of coming through the building — just sort of watch the expression on their face,” he said.

Hiring for the new terminal is underway as concession operators are looking to fill at least 800 retail, food and beverage jobs by the time the new terminal opens.

Two more job fairs will be held on Feb. 6 and 13 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Kansas City Aviation Department, 601 Brasilia Ave.

The city broke ground on the project in March 2019. At more than 1 million square feet, the terminal is the largest single infrastructure project in the city’s history.

It replaces the airport’s out-of-date horseshoe-like terminals, which opened in 1972 with a “drive to your gate” convenience. Airports had no metal detectors or security searching bags when KCI was designed. Less than a month after opening, the FAA announced major security changes nationwide because of a hijacking.

The three terminals weren’t deep enough to fit concessions and restrooms for passengers after they went through security.

The new terminal, built on the site of the former Terminal A, will usher in a new air travel experience in Kansas City, providing nearly 50 places to eat and shop. About 80% of the brands are local to the Kansas City region.

It will also feature the largest public art program in Kansas City’s history, with a $5.6 million of newly commissioned art. Nineteen of the artists chosen live in the Kansas City area or have local ties.

Other amenities include information desks, moving walkways, Delta Sky Club, military USO, mediation room and all-glass passenger boarding bridges.

Up to 6,000 construction-related jobs were generated by the project, which was led by developer Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate and their design-build partner Clark | Weitz | Clarkson. More than 240 Kansas City-area firms worked on the project, with more than 130 of them being minority- and women-owned.