KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – It’s no secret that Kansas City is growing quickly, and the new KC International Airport is repeatedly demonstrating that fact.
When compared to September 2022 in the former terminal, the number of passengers traveling through the airport in September 2023 increased by 13 percent. In total, 991,859 passengers arrived at and departed from KCI in that month alone.
“I am proud of the overwhelming positive feedback our brand-new Kansas City International Airport is continuing to receive over the past six months and I am thrilled we are continuing to break boarding records,” said Mayor Quinton Lucas. “A busy and active KCI means more jobs and continued local economic growth long-term. We will continue to work with airlines to further expand domestic and international service out of Kansas City.”
ALSO READ: KCI sees record-breaking September as holiday season nears
With the busy, travel-filled holiday season just around the corner, KCTV visited the airport to get some tips for navigating the new terminal.
Tenisha Maxwell is the Customer Experience Supervisor at KCI and she offered a hot tip she learned directly from the TSA.
“The best tip I can offer is something that probably no one would think of– when you bring liquids, when you have them over three ounces, you can have them if you freeze them. So frozen items aren’t considered liquid,” Maxwell said.
Another tip is in regards to the pet relief sections that are available in the airport. One is located outdoors on the first level where the arrivals come through.
Destiny Lytle was traveling through the airport with her dog, Shetna. The two landed in KCI and are traveling down to Springfield for a dock diving competition.
“We immediately hit up the outside dog yard to let her go potty and do her business, and she thought it was great,” Lytle said.
A third tip is to be cautious about what you’re packing in your checked baggage. In September alone, 20.2 million pounds of air freight, which includes bags, mail and other items, were handled by the KCI airport.
Pablo Montiel Ramirez is a baggage handler at KCi and warns travelers to be careful when packing holiday gifts in luggage, especially liquids.
“Gifts, make sure you wrap them right because we put bags on top of the other ones so you never know what can happen. Wine specifically– make sure to wrap that correctly, because we have quite a few incidents with those,” he cautioned.
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