| Wichita Mid-Continent Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: ICT – ICAO: KICT
ICT
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| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Wichita Airport Authority | ||
| Location | Wichita, Kansas | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,333 ft / 406.3 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 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 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. While mostly served by regional airliners, American Airlines and Allegiant Air operate McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, Delta Airlines and United Airlines use Airbus A319 and Airbus A320 aircraft, AirTran Airways uses Boeing 717 aircraft.
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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 (778 ha) 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.
The current airport has one terminal with a total of eleven (11) boarding gates on two connected concourses: the East Concourse houses Gates 1 through 6 and the West Concourse houses Gates 7 through 12. Gates 7 and 11 are not being used by any airline at the present time. Gate 9 has not been utilized for several years, due to its smaller size (seating capacity) and lack of a boarding bridge. This gate hold area was converted into a "Home Team Sports Bar" in 2007. Currently 9 gates are used, on a daily basis, at Mid-Continent Airport. Gates 4, 7, 8 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.
The new terminal building will be located immediately west of the existing terminal. The new two-story, 272,000 sq ft (25,300 m2). 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:[1]
Construction began in late Summer 2009, with a completion date estimated for early (first quarter) 2014. Portions of 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 | Destinations | Gate |
|---|---|---|
| AirTran Airways | Atlanta | 12 |
| Allegiant Air | Las Vegas, Los Angeles [ends January 7, 2012], Phoenix/Mesa | 6 |
| American Airlines | Dallas/Fort Worth | 5 |
| American Eagle | Chicago-O’Hare | 5 |
| Delta Airlines | Atlanta [begins January 5, 2012] | 2 |
| Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines | Atlanta | 2, 4 |
| Delta Connection operated by Pinnacle Airlines | Atlanta [ends January 5, 2012], Minneapolis/St. Paul [begins March 25, 2012]] | 2, 4 |
| Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines | Minneapolis/St. Paul [ends March 24, 2012] | 2, 4 |
| Frontier Airlines operated by Republic Airlines | Denver | 1 |
| United Airlines | Denver | 8, 10 |
| United Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines | Chicago-O’Hare, Denver, Houston-Intercontinental | 3, 8, 10 |
| United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines | Denver | 8, 10 |
A study of the most recent 5 years of aircraft activity at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport shows that passenger enplanements declined slightly from 2005-2006 after an increase of 4.4 percent in 2004 but rose again sharply by 9.48 percent in 2007 and continued to increase in 2008 by 1.23 percent. In 2004 Wichita enplaned 749,416 passengers; 2005, 742,363; 2006, 726,619; 2007, 795,535 and in 2008, 805,286 passengers. Through August 2010, Wichita Mid-Continent has enplaned a total of 494,757 passengers. These are broken up by airline as follows. Air Tran (42,776), Allegiant Air (43,904), American Eagle (32,018), American Airlines (80,319), ExpressJet operating as Continental Express/and United (62,864), Atlantic Southeast Airlines operating as Delta (61,023), Pinnacle operating as Delta Air Lines (50,574), SkyWest operating as United and Delta (56,726), Republic Airways operating as Frontier (18,596), and United Airlines (31,708). [2]