Date: September 13, 2012
Mayor Carl Brewer and other luminaries participated in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new airport terminal Thursday afternoon at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.
The new terminal, scheduled to open in 2015, is a $160 million project dubbed Air Capital Terminal 3, or ACT 3, reflecting its standing as the third terminal built in Wichita. It will replace the existing Mid-Continent terminal, built in 1954. Brewer said the state-of-the-art terminal, featuring interior designs that showcase the city’s rich aviation history, will enhance Wichita’s standing as the Air Capital of the World.
“The new terminal will be the airline gateway to the state of Kansas,” Brewer said. “It will serve as a front window into our city and our history. Visitors will know that Wichita gave birth to aircraft manufacturing and that more aircraft have been built here than anywhere in the world.”
Joining Brewer were other City Council members, Sedgwick County Commissioner Dave Unruh and officials representing the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration, Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, Go Wichita Convention & Visitors Bureau and Wichita Airport Advisory Board.
The new terminal features modern operational and security enhancements that will improve service for passengers and other airport customers. Of the $160 million project, $37 million has been spent on design and programming. The project is funded with airport passenger and aviation user fees, not tax dollars.
Wichita-based Key Construction and Detroit-based Walbridge partnered to serve as the project’s general contractor. The new Terminal was designed by a team led by HNTB Architecture of Kansas City. Both the designer and contractor are under the guidance of project manager, AECOM.
In addition to the new terminal building, the project will add a new parking garage and a new rental-car facility, scheduled to open before completion of the new terminal. The parking garage, budgeted at $40 million, is funded with rental car fees, parking revenues, and general obligation bonds to be retired with airport revenue.
