Kansas City International Airport — Kansas City, United States

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) reopened in 2023 with a new single terminal that replaced the airport's distinctive original design of three horseshoe-shaped terminals built in 1972, each intended to let passengers park within a short walk of their gate. That original drive-to-the-gate concept made MCI a novelty in American aviation for decades, though evolving security requirements eventually made the layout impractical. The airport sits in Platte County, north of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and today functions as a Southwest Airlines focus city while also hosting Delta, United, American, and other major domestic carriers. Kansas City's central location within the United States has long made the airport attractive for connecting traffic, and the city once hosted a major Trans World Airlines maintenance and overhaul base that anchored thousands of local aviation jobs for decades. The modern terminal consolidated concourses, expanded retail and dining, and added more security checkpoints to handle growing regional demand.