Rock.

Anyone who’s ever put a shovel in the dirt of North Springfield knows there’s a lot of it — tough rock. Mean rock. 11 years ago today a bulldozer driver found out just how mean …

The folk at Google have made it a little bit easier to navigate our terminal building — take a look at this screen shot:

This screen shot is from an iPhone. It shows the floor plan of the terminal as viewed on Google Maps. It's part of Google's Indoor Map program.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (left) speaks at this morning's news conference. Robert Spence, Chairman of the Airport Board, looks on.

Before reading this blog entry, be sure to read the accompanying entries, Cameroon Monkeys and Leaky Windshields , Misperception #1: Airport Uses City Tax Money, Misperception #2: Airport Sets and Controls Ticket Prices, and Misperception #3: The Airport Can Order Airlines to Fly Wherever We Want!

"The new terminal wasn’t needed and it's a huge waste of tax money!"

Finally. 

The Internet map sites are starting to show signs of the new terminal and the new roads that go with it!

We found this email today:

Greg has questions:

"I just flew back in yesterday and had 2 questions. First why are there 2 passenger jetways (get from terminal to plane) at the old terminal? Secondly, are there future plans to put in a second luggage carousel? The new terminal is beautiful and love it, just looking forward to McAllisters."

For several years now people have lamented the passing of what was an age-old pastime: watching airplanes at the airport.

What changed was security--particularly after 9-11. As security got tighter it became more and more difficult for the public to see airplanes. That's all changed at our new terminal.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of days running together around here—and the move to the new terminal really isn’t over: boxes are still being unpacked, people are still feeling their way around the new environment, and new systems are still being tuned and tweaked. All that said, the dust is settling…and now that my desk is set-up (and cleared-off), it’s time to review the past few months at the airport, and in the industry in general.

The midfield terminal opened for business this morning. So far, we've had only minor clitches: the ticket spitters in the parking lots (those machines that give you parking stubs) didn't have stubs in them at 4:00 this morning, and the United ticket counter didn't have a sign on it.

By six this morning about 50 stray travelers had shown up at the old terminal looking for their plane. Airport police gave them directions and a map to the new terminal.