The first flight from the new terminal has sold out.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying
Kansas City International Airport's brand-new terminal is set to open on February 28th, three weeks from the day this article is written. By removing the old and outdated infrastructure, passengers will benefit from a hugely improved experience. With 39 gates and room to grow if the airport needs it, Kansas City is preparing itself for the future.
Out with the old
When writing, there is nothing to suggest that the new terminal won't open as planned on Tuesday, February 28th. According to the airport, all scheduled passenger movements will use the existing facility until 01:00 on the 28th, after which they'll switch to the new terminal.
Cirium data shows that, subject to any delays, the last flight to use the existing facility will be Southwest Airlines flight WN3369, a Boeing 737-700 due to leave for Chicago Midway at 22:25. The last arrival set to use the current offering is Delta DL1412 from Salt Lake City. Operated by an Airbus A319, it is expected to arrive at 00:38, 22 minutes before the planned closure.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying.
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In with the new
On February 28th, the first passenger flight scheduled to depart from the new terminal is Southwest WN904, a 737-700 bound for Chicago Midway at the ungodly time of 05:00. Southwest's website shows that it has entirely sold out as passengers wish to be part of history (see the following image). Just missing out is WN1506, due to leave for Phoenix at 05:10.
As predictable as it seems, the first arrival on the 28th is WN1980 from – you guessed it – Chicago Midway, a 737 MAX 8 expected to arrive at 07:40.
According to Cirium data, Kansas City has 123 departing passenger flights on the 28th. They involve eight airlines, as summarized below. Invariably, Southwest has nearly half of the departures:
Airline
Feb 28th departures
% of the total
No. of routes that day
Top two aircraft (in order of flights) that day
Southwest
55
44.7%
20
737-700, 737 MAX 8
Delta
24
19.5%
9
717, A220-100
American
17
13.8%
9
737-800, E175
United
17
13.8%
6
E175, A320
Spirit
4
3.3%
3
A320 and (jointly) the A319/A321
Frontier
3
2.4%
3
Just one: A320neo
JetBlue
2
1.6%
2
Just one: A220-300
Alaska
1
0.8%
1
Just one: 737-900
36 routes on the big day
Across all eight passenger carriers, Kansas City has non-stop flights to 36 destinations on the 28th. Of these, 35 are domestic, involving 23 states. Denver is the most-served route that day, as shown in the table below, which details those with five or more departures. Yet Texas is inevitably the most-served state; about 1 in 6 Kansas City flights go to the Lone Star State. The sole international flight on the 28th is Frontier to Cancun.
