Kansas City International Airport

Region: Missouri

Kansas City International Airport
Location	Kansas City, Missouri
IATA code	MCI
ICAO code	KMCI
Airport type	Commercial
Website	http://www.flykci.com/
Overview map	Google Maps
Communications
Tower	128.2
Ground	121.8
Clearance	135.7
Approach
ATIS	126.625

Official Spotting Locations

None.

Other Spotting Locations

Terminals

Spotting from the KCI terminals is generally poor and various security folks are not keen on cameras. As with any other airport, the degree of enforcement is sporadic at best. Some days photographers are asked to put their cameras away as soon as they get them out, other days you can shoot for hours with no interruption.

Economy Parking

Perhaps the best spotting areas are at the far south side of economy parking lots A and B. Here you are less than 200 feet from the northern end of 19L. On a day with wind from the south you can catch planes flying low directly overhead. Spotters have been known to catch planes taxiing to the northern end for a southbound departure. The only problem here is that 19L is the lesser used of the two primary runways. Economy parking is free for the first 30 minutes, after that it's $4 for a partial day. Security patrols very often, if they see you acting suspicious you will be asked to leave. At KCI it's best not to be seen.

Corn Fields

A secondary location is only good on days when planes are landing on 1L from the south or 9 from the west (rare), there is a small gravel lot at the corner of 104th street and NW Hampton road to the south west of the airport. This spot is far off the beaten path, it's miles out of the way regardless of where you are coming from. Bear in mind that KCI owns most of the farmland surrounding the airport, including this area. Just because you are outside of the perimeter fence does not mean you aren't on airport property. I've never been asked to leave this location, likely because it is so remote.

Locations to Avoid

High-traffic side roads

There are no known decent spotting locations for arrivals on 1R. Spotting on runways 19R and 27 is easy, however, there are no parking spots and local police will arrive within minutes of a car parking on the shoulder of I29 or an access road.

Short-term parking

Spotters may be tempted to park in the short term parking called the "circle lots". Photography from these lots will quickly attract unwanted attention. Recent "enhancements" to the perimeter fences have made it nearly impossible to get quality shots of taxiing planes anyway.

Regular Traffic

Airlines

Southwest has by far the biggest presence with Republic/Frontier/Midwest coming in second.

Because KCI is relatively small expect the regional counterparts of Delta, United, Continental, Air Canada and US Airways. AirTran and Great Lakes serve KCI as well. Great Lakes is somewhat unique in that they generally serve extremely small airports. KCI and Denver are the two largest airports they serve. Great Lakes primarily operates Beechcraft 1900D turboprops.

Common planes

KCI is dominated by Boeing 737s, Airbus A319s, McDonnell Douglas twin-jets and various Embraer and Canadair regional jets.