A comment posted this week reminded me of a question that I’ve been meaning to ask:
I don’t understand why both Delta and Southwest, which together handle about 70% of KCI’s passenger traffic, are both crammed into Terminal B. If Delta moved to terminal C, Southwest could have the entire B terminal to itself. That would also free up space at the terminal B parking garage, which is full at peak times.
When Delta and Northwest merged in 2008, Delta was in its current location at the end of Terminal B and Northwest was over in Terminal C. Meanwhile, Southwest was expanding toward Delta from the other end of Terminal B. So why was the decision made to move Northwest over to the already busiest Terminal B instead of moving Delta over to the lightly used Terminal C?
Today, two of the more common reasons offered to justify the new single-terminal proposal are:
- It is hard to find short-term parking at Terminal B during the week.
- Southwest is our dominant carrier, is out of room and cannot expand in the current Terminal.
Well gee, whose fault is that?!?
So again I ask, why was the decision made (and who made it) to bring Northwest over to Terminal B instead of moving Delta over to Terminal C? I’m not necessarily suggesting that the move was intentionally made to create frustrated passengers anxious to build a new airport. Perhaps it was a cheaper short-term move, but there is no way that competent authorities could not have predicted the long-term issues that would result from their decision and so the decision to create the parking and crowding issues was an intentional one.
Perhaps we can correct that mistake now and maybe save a billion dollars in the process? Additionally, with the merger of United and Continental and the pending merger of American and US Airways, gate and security allocation issues are about to become much simpler.
KCI says they have 90 gates But they really have 67 or 68 because of the stupid count. while they still have open gates turn terminal A into an international terminal sence U.S air and AirTran are merging so they can go with thier parent airline. and delta and AirTran can move into terminal A. And southwest can expand. And they never use thier outside convayer belt out side so that causes delays with bags.
ALL THEY NEED IS A CHILD WHO CARES ABOUT KCI AND AVATION LIKE I DO
FROM THE CHILD WHO CARES
You make no sence!
US Air and Air Tran are not merging. Southwest bought Air Tran 2 years ago.
I believe it is because when the airport was built Delta paid extra for an overhang from the building, which is only found on select gates.
Would somebody tell Russ that we don’t need a terminal and it would be nice if free parking would be offered at KCI.
For safety and an efficient airport, we need a new terminal. As for free parking, that is not an option at any airport. That money is used to pay for the upkeep, they don’t use tax dollars.
I’ll be really interested to see if you get an official response to this excellent question. I used to always use short term parking. Now I use economy or Parking Spot. If Delta was over in the other terminal I would park there so that’s about $100 a month from me that the city isn’t getting anymore. Unless someone can provide a better explanation, this is either incompetence or an intentional move to pad a resume. It’s clear that Russ Johnson and Mark VanLoh want to build a new terminal that they can put their name on. If I’m off base, let’s see the evidence.
Delta could not have been moved to Terminal C then because Continental was there at that time with American and a busy Frontier/Republic. There was no room for Delta there. In order to fit Delta into Terminal C, it would have required all existing airlines in Terminal C, be bumped, and extensive Terminal modifications done. That would have been expensive. Also, who is to say now that existing airlines in Terminal C would have agreed to uproot their operations for a move back then.