‘It’s a beautiful airport’: By design or by chance, travelers take in new KCI terminal

Amania Drane of Darien, Illinois, had no idea she had booked the first flight into the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport.

It was purely a coincidence that the day she needed to come into Kansas City was a historic moment. Imagine her surprise, then, when they rolled out the red carpet Tuesday — literally — as she stepped onto the plane from Chicago.

Here for volunteer work, she was given a royal welcome into the city. She received popcorn from the airline crew and arrived to pom poms and music. Drane doubtlessly had a lucky flight experience, and one that’s left a lasting impression.

“It’s a beautiful airport,” she said. “The food smells good even at 6 a.m.”

Indeed, the smell of barbecue wafted through the air inside the terminal.

At Smoke ‘n Magic, a barbecue restaurant that is one of the new food concessions at the terminal, staff were busy preparing 21 racks of ribs — a guess at how much would be needed for this first day at the new facility, which opened Tuesday with its first departing flight at 5 a.m. bound for Chicago.

Drane was one of many Kansas City travelers who, by design or by chance, connected with KCI on a special day. Some, like her, were just travelers who happened to find themselves among the first to use terminal that Kansas Citians have been talking about now for years.

Travelers arriving at the new terminal early Tuesday morning for that first flight were greeted at their Southwest Airlines gate with heart-shaped doughnuts and other treats.

When the plane — a Southwest jet named Missouri One for the state flag emblem painted on the sides — took off, airport crews cheered.

Many Kansas Citians did not arrive for those first flights by chance at all.

Feeling a more personal connection to the airport and the city it represents, some couldn’t resist the urge buy a ticket for the last flight out of the old terminal or the first flight into the new one — or both.

Kansas City native Rebecca Earp, for instance, found herself feeling sentimental Monday afternoon. So, she booked a last minute flight, the last one out of the old terminal at Kansas City International Airport.

The old building held many memories for Earp, some of them bittersweet. Her first solo flight. Traveling with her parents. Flying to funerals, weddings and family visits. She remembered a snow storm when her niece, now a freshman in college, was just 8. They were attempting to fly out when a delayed flight ended up not taking off that day.

She told her niece: “There’s nobody else I’d rather be stuck in an airport with.”

On Tuesday morning, Earp was among those flying back in from Chicago.

Stepping off the plane, she was greeted with mimosas, champagne, and a welcoming crew — the perfect end and an exciting beginning. “I’m really glad I did it,” she said.

“[The airport] gets you to special really special places that can change your life … places that wouldn’t have even been possible if you didn’t have a flight.”