CHICAGO - Kansas City International Airport should build a new state-of-the-art central terminal, a special mayoral advisory group recommended Wednesday.
The recommendation will go to the Kansas City Council, although a final written version was not yet ready. The group said a single terminal, to replace the three current terminals, offers the most flexibility to meet the city's future air travel needs and industry changes while remaining convenient.
Mayor Sly James, who appointed the task force last spring, stressed that the 24-member group's recommendation is just that and said it will be up to the council to decide whether to adopt it. Nineteen group members endorsed the single terminal option over several alternatives.
"They may or may not agree with that recommendation," James said of council members in a televised interview after the advisory group released its recommendation. "We have to be about making decisions about facts, data, costs" and other information the council still needs to develop "that could have a huge impact," James said.
The city is expected to discuss the recommendation with the airport's airlines, which would be asked to help finance any construction. The city's new lease agreement with the eight airlines outlines plans for a cooperative relationship on any terminal changes, including renovations or construction of a new terminal.
The city also needs to conduct engineering and design studies to settle on a cost. If approved by the council, the question of whether a new terminal should be built would eventually go to voters. A previous plan floated last year by the city's aviation department put the price tag of a new single terminal at $1.2 billion.
The task force initially considered dozens of proposals but later narrowed the list down to three options: a single terminal, renovations to the existing terminals, or renovations to the existing terminals combined with construction of a central screening area connecting the terminals.
The group said taking no action was not an option due to the age of the existing terminals. The city-owned airport is 42 years old. Frasca & Associates LLC acted as consultant to the panel.
Landrum & Brown Inc. designed the city's single terminal proposal last spring as part of a federally funded feasibility study. Debate over the airport's future led to the appointment of the panel last spring.
"Going forward, the three terminals at KCI do not make sense financially or environmentally and cannot accommodate needed modernization for passenger convenience, airline expansion, baggage and security requirements," said a city fact sheet released last year on the one-terminal design.
In Kansas City, proponents of the single terminal believe it offers the best option for making the airport more attractive to airlines and connecting travelers while meeting environmental standards for capturing de-icing fluids and federal safety rules.
The airport decision in Kansas City could be contentious because the current three-terminal arrangement, geared toward reducing travel time between parking and airplane gates, is popular with local travelers.
While critics of a new terminal cite inconvenience and cost, supporters believe it will improve efficiency by saving money on operations and centralizing security.
A city fact sheet on the one-terminal proposal said the facility would be paid for through a combination of federal grants, passenger facility charges and revenue bonds, and private financing could also be considered.
The city last year refunded about $200 million of airport debt in a deal that streamlined its debt portfolio in a new master bond ordinance to achieve savings and smooth the path for future issuance.
Standard & Poor's assigns an A-plus rating to senior lien general airport revenue bonds and an A rating to subordinate general airport revenue bonds and stand-alone passenger facility charge bonds. It assigns a stable outlook.
Moody's Investors Service assigns an A2 rating to the senior lien bonds and the A3 rating on subordinate and PFC bonds. Fitch Ratings rates the senior lien bonds A and the subordinate bonds A-minus.
The city has not issued new money debt for the airport since 2005, instead funding past projects and its $144 million five-year capital program with cash, passenger facility charges, and grants. No new-money issuance is contemplated in the near term although about $240 million in voter approved authority granted in 2000 remains on the books.
