TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! KANSAS CITY INSIDERS FEAR NEW AIRPORT COULD SEND DOWNTOWN WHEELER AIRPORT TO THE GOLDEN GHETTO!!!
Let's make this quick and dirty with the promise that we've got a lot more insights about how the current KCI single terminal scheme could help this town crash and burn.
Okay . . . Now . . .
Let's say we build the new airport like so many developers, politicos and Russ Johnson desire . . .
Now, it has already been documented by smarter people . . .
"Kansas City is borrowing money from the airport, with interest, to cover losses it incurred in tax abatements to things such as the Power & Light District."
SOOOOOOO . . . An expensive new single-terminal would cause all of that cash to dry up.
Well . . . What nobody has mentioned so far . . .
KANSAS CITY DOWNTOWN WHEELER AIRPORT IS PRETTY MUCH DEPENDENT ON KCI FUNDING SO WHATEVER DECISION THEY MAKE OUT IN THE STIX COULD IMPACT DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY!!!
Worst case scenario:
- They build the new single-terminal scheme.
- Wheeler Airport is forced to raise rates.
- All of the corporate jets housed near Downtown KCMO then decide that the JoCo airport is much more attractive and closer to where they live anyhoo . . .
Wheeler Airport doesn't have to lose that much biz to become a total disaster and risk shutdown.
And so . . .
KANSAS CITY INSIDERS WARN US THAT ONCE AGAIN JOCO STANDS READY TO BENEFIT FROM KANSAS CITY, MO ECO-DEVO GAMES AND COULD POACH A LOT OF PRIVATE JET TRAVEL THANKS TO THE SINGLE-TERMINAL KCI SCHEME!!!
We're not sure if they'll mention this at the JoCo KCI Meet-up tonight but rest assured that most people at the discussion will be happy to watch even more biz fly away from Kansas City proper.
Developing . . .
TKC, busienss people don't want to save money and add extra convenience. They would rather eat at a new airport applebee's.
ReplyDeleteGood. If the downtown airport moves, it'll be a real estate orgasm.
ReplyDeleteOr, KC business elite could arrange to have Wheeler Downtown Airport classified as blighted, then buy the condemned property and hold it privately for themselves.
ReplyDeleteJust thinking cynically, but this is the type of thing that happens.
Both scenarios could happen!
ReplyDeleteWe could use Downtown Airport for organic granular infill. All the concrete, bike routes, new buildings, and market rate housing will be painted a bright pleasant green color to symbolize our commitment to the natural world.
ReplyDelete90% of the people who fly in and out of Wheeler live closer to that location than the JoCo corporate airport at 199th and Middle of nowhere road.
ReplyDelete90% of the people who fly here for business are going to Downtown or the Plaza.
How bout Downtown Wheeler Eco System! We need a groovy hipster name go with it!
ReplyDeleteRuss Johnson couldn't care less about Kansas City OR it's inhabitants. He's all about Russ.....nothing more.
ReplyDeleteA couple of things that set off my bullshit sensors... There is no competitive advantage of keeping airplanes at Johnson County Exec over Downtown. The only costs incurred are the result of hangaring. These sorts of fixed costs do not vacillate. Itinerant traffic pays the FBO (Signature or Atlantic in the case of Downtown) for tie down fees or an overnight hangar. No city influence there. The second thing is that any attempt to close Downtown will have to pass FAA scrutiny. It's not easy to close an airport. Believe me, as a Downtown airport user, I can tell you that it's not as though they are spending any more than the federally mandated minimum anyway.
ReplyDelete1:37, What about Meigs?
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right though. A lot of shiny jet money hangars downtown. And a chunk of the FAA lives there as well. I doubt Sly could sneakily bulldoze X's on all four runways in one night.
KCI should have been built at Richards Gebaur or Olathe anyway. South is where the city was growing.
ReplyDeleteI bet any study of the zipcodes of local air travelers would put most of them in the "662..." area code anyway.
The northland (clay and platte) has been averaging nearly as many permits as johnson county and kci is no longer way out in the sticks
DeleteThe northland (clay and platte) has been averaging nearly as many permits as johnson county and kci is no longer way out in the sticks
DeleteThere are a lot of cities that have more than one commercial airport. If fares get jacked too much and airlines are charged excessive fees to use the MCI facilities you can bet that Olathe could accommodate some airline traffic with minor expense. The runway is there and there's room for extensions and parallels.
ReplyDeleteYou'd lose that bet 3:53. The vast majority of kci s user come from missouri (because that's were most people live) and the biggest chunk of them live in kcmo.
ReplyDeleteAnd the northland is growin considerably faster than joco now (for the last decade to 15 years) but no one would expect you joco homers to know that...you're always about 25 years behind the rest of the world.
Build another taxpayer subsidized 1980s era lifestyle center/office park/strip mall and keep patting yourselves in the back, though.
Why doesn't Johnson County build a terminal at the new century airport and move southwest there, and then say goodbye to kci? It is big enough for any size plane to land there.
ReplyDelete5:11 hasn't been in JOCO.
ReplyDeleteRead the kchba numbers and drive around a little bit johnson county while great is still just 40 percent of the areas growth
DeleteRead the kchba numbers and drive around a little bit johnson county while great is still just 40 percent of the areas growth
DeleteIt's about time JOCO built something, they have been mooching off KCMO projects for years.
ReplyDelete617 has never been out of it
ReplyDeleteA single terminal or expansion downtown would be great.
ReplyDeletePlease don't close Downtown Airport. I need to be able to land my jet there on Chiefs Sunday's so I can haul that easy KC money back to Dallas Sunday night. Daddy did it for years and now it's all mine. You KC Chiefs fans are stupid losers. We will never spend money in your town to produce a Super Bowl winner. We got one early on after they ran us out of Dallas. Now we just rolling the cash back to the Big D and showing the Bowl trophy from 40 plus years ago. SUCKERS.
ReplyDelete