Wichita Mid-Continent Airport

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Wichita Mid-Continent Airport
IATA: ICT - ICAO: KICT
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Wichita Airport Authority
Serves		Wichita, Kansas
Elevation AMSL		1,333 ft (406.3 m)
Coordinates		37°38′59.8″N, 97°25′59″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
1L/19R	10,301	3,140	Concrete
1R/19L	7,301	2,225	Concrete
14/32	6,301	1,921	Concrete

Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (IATA: ICT, ICAO: KICT) is a commercial airport located 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Wichita, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, USA. It is the largest airport in the state of Kansas.

[edit] 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.