Kansas City Aviation Administrator Mark VanLoh is struggling to cope with reality, it appears. In a recent video interview given to Airport Revenue News and posted on their website on May 15 2015, VanLoh says the following [starts at 1:40]:
The challenges again would be educating the public on why we think we need a new single terminal. So many people—and around the country—think that aviation revenues should be spent fixing potholes or schools, where as you know airport revenues have to stay on the airport. And because we’re a department of the city that’s a tough sell.
First of all, I can think of no one who claims that aviation revenue should be used elsewhere in the city. It appears to be a red herring argument and it gives short shrift to the arguments that people have made against building a new terminal: Namely, that it will increase fees and therefore risk costing us flights, and that MCI is a great and convenient airport just as it is,
But even more importantly, VanLoh's claims that airport funds stay at the airport is wrong, and he knows it. After all, he signed the documents moving $10 million dollars from the Aviation Department to the City Finance Department, And he agreed to the amendment that extended the loan, too.
If the Aviation Department wants to convince Kansas Citians of anything, they first need to start speaking honestly about how they operate.
