Southwest Airlines' Plan B: leave KCI, and build new terminal in Gardner Ks! Financed with local Airport Revenue Bonds

Behind the scenes, Southwest Airlines may pull a Love Field strategy in metro KC.  Land their planes in Johnson County, and forget all about MCI in KCMO.  (Southwest does not fly out of Dallas/Ft Worth's "main" airport, they have Love Field.  Nor do they fly out of O'Hare in Chicago.  They use Midway.)

Gardner Municipal Airport in Joco.  Closer. Cheaper.
Faster than 75% of Southwest's passengers wasting 45 minutes each way to go to KCI.
Future home of Southwest Airlines.
And building their own terminal in Joco
would cost "peanuts" compared to KCI!!!

Every prudent business has backup plans.  Southwest, being an innovator and cost-conscious, and serving THEIR key market, which is the 75% of all passengers who live and or work in Johnson County, is no different.

What will the CEO of Southwest airlines, Gary C. Kelly, do?  Sure, he writes a few nice letters to KC Aviation Department to keep them happy.  But they are not legal commitments!  Meanwhile....since Sly James and the KCMO Council are dithering--and teasing with Burns & Mac....

Gary C. Kelly is the chief executive officer and chairman of Southwest Airlines.
He first joined the company in 1986 as Controller. In 1989,
Kelly was promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance.

Has anyone checked the visitor logs in the Topeka capitol?

Has Governor Sam Brownback secretly offered tax breaks and incentives to Southwest?

What about the leaders of the Kansas Senate and the Kansas House?  Nick Jordan,
the Ks. Director of Revenue?  Jordan is DESPERATE to bring in some new revenues.

What about Acting Director Antonio Soave, Director of the Kansas Department of Commerce?  Landing Southwest Airlines in Kansas would be the plum of his career.

And finally, gubernatorial hopeful with the biggest ego in the state, Kris Kobach?  Rather than a white horse, he would so love to ride into office on a white jet.

 The KC Star is obsessed with financing Kansas schools this fall, definitely a great distraction.  Especially for a newspaper that has NO local reporters, no full time STATE reporters, and one pock-faced has-been who-cares-what-he-thinks columnist (named after a thorny flower).

The STAR is so Missouri-centric, they don't even consider what a superlative option this is.  To them, it's all about KCI.  They still actually hold to the old wives tale that it is an "international" airport!  

And has our Johnson County Teleprompter in Chief, BOCC Chairman Ed Eilert,  made Southwest an insider deal like he made for his investment buddies at King Louie???  Don't count our wooden Indian, Ed, out.   He can read his marching orders from a cue card with the best of 'em. Mister Ed can play the same game as Sly James--give the bond sales to private investors, paying 2% more per year to borrow money, rather than issue Airport Revenue Bonds.  

If Google Maps went offline, the STAR could not dispatch a courier to even FIND the Johnson County Board of Commissioners in Olathe unless someone left a trail of bread crumbs for them to follow.   Or they hailed an Uber.
(With the exception of Steve Vockrodt, their utility outfielder who lives halfway to Lawrence, so he knows the proper exit.  But he can't cover EVERY beat!)

As Tony says, "Stay tuned."