While I was making my initial drawing of ICT, its old terminal was in the process of demolition. I’d initially indicated this by showing the old terminal as faded, but I’ve now gone ahead and completely removed it.
Older Versions
Wichita opened a completely new terminal last June, meaning that my trip this past week was the first time I’ve been in the new terminal.
Baggage claim area of the new terminal of Wichita Eisenhower National Airport.
Wichita, though having a rich aviation history, is not a huge air travel market. The new terminal completely replaces the old one.
Old terminal of Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.
I did really like the old terminal; seeing that much brick in a functioning airport (both inside and outside) is rare nowadays.
However, the old terminal was absolutely showing its age. In particular, this was an airport that was designed before modern security, meaning they had to wedge it in wherever it would fit, which in practice was the base of the T junction. This led to some extremely narrow hallways, crowded checkpoints, and a best-they-could-do TSA PreCheck that shared the X-ray with the standard checkpoint.
What’s left of the main “T” junction of the old terminal, looking from the new one. The entire security checkpoint fit in what’s still standing.
Paul Bogard created these terminal silhouette illustrations, and has made them available for use under a CC BY-SA 4.0 License.