transportation

WICHITA, Kansas —Katie Hansen’s recent trip from Columbus, Ohio, through Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Wichita felt pretty familiar.

Sure, several restaurants sat closed, but O’Hare looked busy and her flights were full.

“If people didn’t have masks on,” Hansen said, “there would be nothing different.”

The sense of bustling airports is a mere illusion, the result of a smaller number of air travelers grouped into a reduced number of flights.

The coronavirus pandemic is causing one of the worst aviation upheavals in history, and Kansas City International Airport has seen its flight and passenger numbers plummet. Airlines serving Kansas City have cut their flights by more than 35% and many planes have very few passengers.

So what does that mean for KCI’s financial health and the future of its $1.5 billion new terminal construction project?

Officials at Eisenhower National Airport are urging people to prepare for an increased volume of passengers when traveling during the holiday season.

Jay Brainard, Transportation Security Administration security director for Kansas, says the Wichita airport will see a spike in the number of travelers they screen. He says the week before Thanksgiving is even busier for traveling than the week before Christmas.

"Here at Wichita, on average we screen about 2,600 people a day," Brainard says. "During the busy holiday time, that number is going to exceed 3,300."

Andrew Crane relies heavily on public transportation.

He takes the bus from his home in west Wichita to downtown, often with his guide dog, Vaughn.

But the trip isn’t easy to navigate: Route maps aren’t available in Braille, and many bus stops aren’t clearly marked.

The next head of the Kansas Department of Transportation is looking to invest more in maintenance of the highway system and rebuild agency staff.

Democratic Gov.-elect Laura Kelly has picked Julie Lorenz as interim head of KDOT.

Lorenz will be taking the helm after years of lawmakers diverting road funding to balance the state budget. She hopes that will slow, but said the state’s finances are still recovering.