Wichita Mid-Continent Airport is a commercial airport located in southwest Wichita, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, USA. It is the busiest airport in the state of Kansas (The larger Kansas City International Airport is located in Missouri). In 2008, passenger traffic continued to grow despite increased fuel prices and economic troubles, with 1,615,075 passengers passing through the airport.

History

Wichita Mid-Continent Airport was first conceived in 1951 when the United States Air Force brought legal proceedings to condemn and acquire the Wichita Municipal Airport for what was to become McConnell Air Force Base. Wichita's park board quickly acquired 1,923 acres (7.8 km²) of land in southwest Wichita and the construction of a new "Wichita Municipal Airport" took about three and a half years. The new airport was dedicated on October 31, 1954, and was renamed Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in 1973 after Kansas City renamed its Mid-Continent Airport to Kansas City International Airport.

The airport's ICT designation is actually an abbreviation for Wichita. At the time the Federal Communications Commission prohibited airports to have radio call signs starting with "K" or "W." Naming conventions of the time then called for the second letter of the city to be used and then use any phonetics to make it easier to identify. Similarly, Kansas City could not get a KCI designation when it renamed its Mid-Continent International Airport to Kansas City International Airport in 1972 (and thus Kansas City still has MCI as its designation). Further, the IATA is very reluctant to change designations once they appear on navigational maps.

Current Airport Passenger Terminal

The current airport has one terminal with a total of twelve (12) boarding gates on two connected concourses: the East Concourse houses Gates 1 through 6 and the West Concourse houses Gates 7 through 12. Due to the Delta/Northwest merger, Delta Airlines now occupies Gates 2 & 4. Gate 9 is a non functioning gate and is not fully operational, or used by any air carrier at this time. Gate 9 has not been utilized for several years, due to its much smaller size (capacity) and lack of boarding bridge.Therefore (currently) 10 gates are used, on a daily basis, at Mid-Continent Airport.Gates 7, 8, 9 and 11 do not have boarding bridges (aka:jet bridge), passengers must walk outside of the airport terminal on the Tarmac to board or de-plane departing or arriving aircraft.

New Mid-Continent Terminal Information

The new terminal building will be located immediately west of the existing terminal. The new two-story, . terminal will be a state-of-the-art modern architectural design expressing flight and Wichita’s globally-prominent position in the aviation industry. Special aviation themed exhibits will be an integral element in the terminal’s design.Major elements of the project include:

• New terminal roadway and covered curb with separate lanes for private and commercial vehicles.
• Terminal building with enlarged ticketing and baggage claim on the main entry level.
• Upper level concourse with departure lounges, concessions and expanded passenger security screening.
• 12 boarding gates, each equipped with a passenger boarding bridge.
• Passenger baggage handling systems with inline explosives detection security screening.
• Enhanced pre-security and post-security concessions and passenger services.
• Rental car service counters, plus close-in parking and car return.
• Short-term and long-term public parking plus a new expanded shuttle parking lot.
• Parking with a total of at least 3,000 spaces.
• New communications, life safety and security systems.
• New aircraft apron to accommodate the relocated terminal and gates.

Construction began in late Summer 2009, with a completion date estimated for early (first quarter) 2013. The existing terminal will be demolished (in stages) as the new terminal becomes fully operational. A flyover of the new terminal can be found on the Airport's website.

Airlines and Destinations

Wichita currently has commercial air service to 11 non-stop destinations with over 45 outbound daily flights.

Key Airport Management

• Victor D. White, Director of Wichita Airports
• E. Bradley Christopher, Assistant Director of Airports
• Valerie Wise, Air Service and Business Development Manager
• Traci Nichols, Advertising Director Wichita Mid-Continent Airport
• Paul Moore, Chief of Airport Safety
• Charles Fletcher, Chairman Wichita Airport Advisory Board

References

External links

• Wichita Mid-Continent Airport
• Current Arrival & Departure information for Wichita Mid-Continent Airport
• Arrivals and departures as displayed at the Wichita Airport Hilton