Wichita opened a completely new terminal last June, meaning that my trip this past week was the first time I’ve been in the new terminal.
Wichita, though having a rich aviation history, is not a huge air travel market. The new terminal completely replaces the old one.
I did really like the old terminal; seeing that much brick in a functioning airport (both inside and outside) is rare nowadays.
However, the old terminal was absolutely showing its age. In particular, this was an airport that was designed before modern security, meaning they had to wedge it in wherever it would fit, which in practice was the base of the T junction. This led to some extremely narrow hallways, crowded checkpoints, and a best-they-could-do TSA PreCheck that shared the X-ray with the standard checkpoint.
So while I’m sorry to see the old terminal go, the airport needed a new terminal, and I’m just glad that I got to see the old building one last time.
