Will Rogers World Airport

[Rover]

Not everyone enjoys efficiency. Some like to fly by the seat of their pants. I forget stuff in my pockets constantly when I fly and it's a fun surprise when I find my missing house keys in a forgotten pocket. There are usually young kids in line waiting for their first big flight, so I take off my socks along with my shoes and make hand puppets to entertain them. The pre check TSA workers LOVE me.

Not sure I understand. You don’t mind delaying all the others in line behind you because you find it amusing?

[bombermwc]

Yeah and the TSA, no they don't love you for that. That has got to be sarcasm.

[OkiePoke]

I mean Clear in general. It's a line cutting measure that uses normal security (which is the slow part). I assume if you have pre-check you can go through that security after cutting the line.

Clear is an identity check. I just don't agree w/ the concept that one can pay extra money to cut the line then go through the same security. Great on them finding a way to make some money, though.

[scottk]

Something to think on...

Wichita got a brand new terminal from the ground up in 2015, 16 gates.

Kansas City is opening their new 40 gate terminal from the ground up at the end of February (finally getting way from the half circle shape terminals) - https://www.buildkci.com/

OKC falls some where in the middle of this, with 24 gates, with future room for 30. The newer gates and security checkpoint are absolutely great, and the west gates hold their own with functionality and size as they are about 15 years old.
Where OKC shows its age is what is essentially left of the original terminal, with the food court area and baggage claim. They were renovated with the 2006 updates, but the size essentially stayed the same, as they raised the roof on the departure level.

Are there long term plans to update/size up this area to better equip future growth? As the front door to the city, the airport makes quite an impression on those traveling.

[bombermwc]

I dont think so. But baggage claim, as an example, is still far from busy. Yes it's still a lower ceiling area, but it is also the area people spend the least amount of time in. I dont think any one thinks "that airport sucks because they have an old-school baggage area". My understanding from others here that worked down in the guts, is that it's basically the same system from when it was originally opened. Doing that level of work would mean gutting the space. I dont think we have that in our future....or honestly in our demand any time soon. I think by the time the demand gets there, we'll be ready to doze what we have now anyway.

Personally, I think food is what it is there too. The airport isn't, and probably never will be, a place people spend much time. We're not a hub. You're not catching a connector here. It's, at most, a place you're catching a coffee/drink/bite because of the timing of your departure in relation to meal times. OKC isn't going to be a place you need to kill 6 hours (unless your flight got delayed) waiting for your connection. We could add 10 more gates, and I don't really think this will change. We would have to turn into a connection destination for that to really happen.

[OkiePoke]

I really wish the next improvement would be to get ride of the square tile in the west terminal. The click-click-click of the roller bags screams outdated to me.

[catch22]

I made a concept rendering that would solve a bunch of problems with the current terminal configuration a few years ago but I’m not sure where in the forum it is. Maybe I will try and find it in the next few days.

[eeyore]

That click-click-click at 5:45am is enough to make anyone go completely nuts when the lines for coffee are that long.

[unfundedrick]

I dont think so. But baggage claim, as an example, is still far from busy. Yes it's still a lower ceiling area, but it is also the area people spend the least amount of time in. I dont think any one thinks "that airport sucks because they have an old-school baggage area". My understanding from others here that worked down in the guts, is that it's basically the same system from when it was originally opened.

The exterior part of the baggage claim is essentially the same but the pickup area did not have a conveyor belt pickup situation when it opened.

[bombermwc]

Hehehe, now that's a flash in the back. Way before my time.

[catch22]

Instead of doubling down on the 60 year old design of the original terminal building the airport should have done a proper rebuild.

In order to bring the airport to today's standards a linear terminal setup should have been considered. This would involve straightening out the semi-circle design which is inefficient and outdated. By switching to a linear building and roadway design some serious interior square footage would be gained and would allow a more modern airport design. Below is just my mind's concept of what could be achieved with a linear design.

Overview:


This is a top down view showing the building expansion in gray, and a light green-blue indicating an overhead glass canopy system. This inspiration comes from the Portland Airport (below).




Here is the 1st floor view. This shows how a linear design would open up some serious square footage for a proper lower-level arrivals area with high ceilings and modern high capacity, bottom-fed baggage claim units.



Here is a 2nd floor concept showing how going back to a split security checkpoint setup would ease walk times (currently all passengers have to go to the furthest east end of the building for screening). These two checkpoints would spill out into a central food court area and push passengers out into the central concourse.

[bombermwc]

It's about funding too. That proposal is quite expensive. Basically, rebuilding from the ground up, in-place, is a nightmare. Just ask O'Hare about what they're trying to do. I dont think anyone with the airport team would ever fight doing that, its just about what can they get funded. Giving the terminal some more depth would definitely give us some extra room to do things that we can't today. But it's all $$$$$$$.

But today, and for the next 30-40 years, i dont think this is really holding anything up. We're not really at capacity, nor do we have that food need because of our lack of hub designation. Spending that kind of money, needs some sort of bigger reason to happen than what we're seeing. And quite a bit more gate traffic. Frankly, we're not looking at a gate wait time for arrivals, we're not seeing widebodies flow through all day, we're not seeing really the need for any of what you're saying. Being pragmatic, it's just not needed.

So i would say keep in mind what our airport's purpose is. We're a regional domestic airport with minimal direct flights on crappy regional jets. The big flights get you to some sort of hub to splinter off. And we don't want to spend 1/2 billion on this (and what you're showing would be in that range) and come out the other side with what the public sees as still just a terminal. Hard to convince people of INFRA needs. Get an airline to treat OKC as something more than what it is today, and you might get something. But i really don't see that happening with DFW so close.

[Just the facts]

If it had been me an entire new terminal would have been built from the ground up on the south side of the airport and funded in part through MAPS. These Frankenstein type expansions should be discouraged at every opportunity. Anyhow, too late for that now.

[catch22]

Further away from downtown, further away from a potential transit line, further away from all of the hotel infrastructure, worse highway access. Perfect location!

[Just the facts]

Further away from downtown, further away from a potential transit line, further away from all of the hotel infrastructure, worse highway access. Perfect location!

It's not that much further and would actually have better traffic access. Just need to reconfigure the cross runway.

[scottk]

It's not that much further and would actually have better traffic access. Just need to reconfigure the cross runway.

New Orleans did something similar to this. They moved their terminal to the other side of the runway. While the new terminal is a great improvement over the the three older terminals they had, the infrastructure getting to and from the new terminal has been challenging.

OKC would be in a similar situation, relocation of parking garages, right of way exits, assuming the main exit would be SW104th off of I44 with a roadway going to the north, the terminal itself would probably be minor in costs compared to the road infrastructure that would be needed.

Wichita was fortunate in that they literally built their new terminal adjacent to the existing building, very little had to change in regards to right of ways, road access, etc.

As for Kansas City, they did something similar, they tore down the "A" terminal, while still operating the B and C terminals. It appears they are building a large parking garage adjacent to the new terminal, but the main road into and out of the airport basically remained the same.

Love Field in Dallas was also similar with their renovation, in keeping the main road and parking garages in the same space, and just shifting the new terminal north from the existing gates.

[BG918]

There is no way OKC is building a new terminal anytime in the next several decades. They'll expand the east concourse if demand warrants.

[bombermwc]

There is no way OKC is building a new terminal anytime in the next several decades. They'll expand the east concourse if demand warrants.

Yup...none of this is happening.

[chssooner]

Yup...none of this is happening.

It doesn't need to. Adding a few gates in a few years will be more than enough. In this day and age, you can't "build it and they will come" with airports.

[catch22]

The square footage of the terminal building will be put to the test in coming years. It’s a 1960’s foot print and design. A terminal building expansion should have been considered at some point in time. More gates won’t be necessary, but as aircraft gauge creeps up the small size of the baggage claim and check in areas will continue to show its outdated footprint and layout.

[gopokes88]

This is the difference between a $100MM and billions.

Those billions are better spent on the maps type projects give what WRWA is

[Just the facts]

Yeah, I thought I made it pretty clear that this should have happened when the original remodel was done, and not now.

[Soonerinfiniti]

I didn't get a photo, but the new Osteria restaurant and Elemental Coffee are an upgrade to the usual airport offerings.

[rte66man]

New Orleans did something similar to this. They moved their terminal to the other side of the runway. While the new terminal is a great improvement over the the three older terminals they had, the infrastructure getting to and from the new terminal has been challenging.

OKC would be in a similar situation, relocation of parking garages, right of way exits, assuming the main exit would be SW104th off of I44 with a roadway going to the north, the terminal itself would probably be minor in costs compared to the road infrastructure that would be needed.

Nashville moved their terminal from the west side to the east side. A LOT of new infrastructure. But that was a few decades ago.

[bombermwc]

I went through the Detroit airport not long ago. It's split in to two terminals, but the domestic terminal is basically Will Rogers. 30ish gates in one long stretch. They managed to squeeze in more food options though. What I will say is that much like Will Rogers, it's super easy to get around and has a lot of empty gates. They have the same problem OKC does in that the hubs are so dang close, the actual traffic to/from the city is fairly low, other than to go to those hubs.

What I will also say is that while there was nothing wrong with the place, it wasn't particularly clean. OKC does a good job of janitorially keeping things clean. No dusty bunnies that I've seen that are the size of Texas.

And if you haven't been through Will Rogers lately, they have have been trying to up the food game. Osteria is a good example of that.

If OKC does much more than extend the east end of the terminal, they're going to have to start jetting (pun) in to the tarmac for extensions. At that point, we really need to start thinking about people moving. If you do have to go from gate 1 to gate 30 whatever and add these extensions, it's going to start turning in to a bit of a walk. Even going from security back to gate 1 is a bit of a trek now. For me, it's fine. But for the mobility challenged, it's a bit of a marathon. And i dont think we have much of a skycap service in OKC.