Source: Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport[1][2]
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (IATA:MSP,ICAO:KMSP,FAALID:MSP) — also less commonly known asWold–Chamberlain Field — is a joint civil-military publicinternational airport serving theTwin Cities in the U.S. state ofMinnesota. It is located inFort Snelling Unorganized Territory and sections of the airport border the city limits ofMinneapolis andRichfield however the airport property is not part of any city or school district.[3] Although situated within the unorganized territory, the airport is centrally located within 10 miles (16 kilometers; 9 nautical miles) of both downtownMinneapolis and downtownSaint Paul. In addition to primarily hosting commercial flights from major American and some international airlines, the airport is also home to severalUnited States Air Force andMinnesota Air National Guard operations. The airport is also used by a variety of air cargo operators. MSP, along withDetroit Metropolitan Airport, regularly contends for the busiest airport in theUpper Midwest.[4]
MSP is a major hub forDelta Air Lines.[8] It also serves as the home airport for Minnesota-basedSun Country Airlines andEndeavor Air, a Delta subsidiary.[9] Delta Air Lines and its regional affiliates account for about 70% of the airport's passenger traffic. The airport is operated by theMetropolitan Airports Commission, which also handles the operation of six smaller airports in the region.
Map showing the boundaries of the old Minneapolis Speedway Airport in 1923 and the Twin Cities Speedway race track that surrounded it.Curteich-Chicago postcard depicting Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Airport, Wold-Chamberlain Field, c.1944.
What is now known as Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport started in 1919 asSpeedway Field when several local groups came together to take control of the former bankrupt Twin City Speedway race track. The first hangar was a wooden structure, constructed in 1920 for airmail services.[10] The Minneapolis Park Board took possession of Speedway Field on June 1, 1928, and in 1929, passenger services began.[10][11] In 1923, the airport was renamed "Wold–Chamberlain Field" for theWorld War I pilots Ernest Groves Wold and Cyrus Foss Chamberlain. In 1944 the site was renamed to "Minneapolis–St. Paul Metropolitan Airport/Wold-Chamberlain Field", with "International" replacing "Metropolitan" four years later. Today it is rare to see the Wold–Chamberlain portion of the name used anywhere.
Ground was broken for the current Terminal 1 building on October 26, 1958.[12] The US $8.5 million, 600,000 square foot (56,000 m2) terminal with 24 gates on two concourses was designed by Lyle George Landstrom.[13] who worked for Cerny Associates. The terminal, then referred to as the New Terminal, was completed on January 13, 1962, and operations began on January 21.[12][14] Pier D (formerly the Gold Concourse, now Concourse G) was completed in 1971 and Pier A (formerly the Green Concourse, now Concourse C) was completed in 1972 as part of an expansion of the terminal designed by Cerny Associates.[14][15] This project also involved rebuilding the existing concourses into bi-level structures equipped withholding rooms andjet bridges.[14] The Gold Concourse was expanded in 1986 and included the airport's first moving walkway.[12] Concourses A and B opened on June 1, 2002, as part of a $250 million terminal expansion designed by Minneapolis-based Architectural Alliance.[16] The final component of the project included a $17.5 million extension of Concourse C consisting of six additional gates, which opened on October 31, 2002.[17]
Terminal 2 was first built in 1986 and then rebuilt in 2001. It is used mostly for charter and low cost airlines, including Minnesota-basedSun Country andSouthwest, but is also used forCondor,Frontier, andIcelandair. The terminal has since been expanded and has a total of 14 gates. The colored labeling system for concourses in both terminals was replaced beginning in 2000 with the current system of lettered concourses.
Due in part to aircraft noise in south Minneapolis, the Highland Park neighborhood in St. Paul, and surrounding suburbs, proposals were made in the 1990s to build a new airport on the fringes of the Twin Cities metro inDakota County to handle larger jets and more international traffic.[18] Minneapolis, St. Paul, and other neighboring cities were concerned that such a move would have a negative economic impact, so an arrangement was made where the Metropolitan Airports Commission would outfit many homes in the vicinity of the airport withsound insulation andair conditioning so that indoor noise could be reduced. A citizen group named ROAR (Residents Opposed to Airport Racket) was created in 1998 and helped push the MAC to make these concessions. Later, in 2004, the MAC voted to reduce funding for the soundproofing projects, saying in part that the economic climate had turned in the wake of theSeptember 11 attacks. Minneapolis MayorR. T. Rybak, who had been a founding member of ROAR, promised that the city would challenge the changes. In 2005, the cities of Minneapolis, Eagan, and Richfield and the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority filed a lawsuit against the MAC, which was settled with a Consent Decree in 2007. The terms in the Consent Decree specified levels of sound insulation for homes within a fixed boundary of projected aircraft noise exposure around MSP. Upon the completion of the noise mitigation program in 2014, more than 15,000 single-family homes and 3,303 multi-family units around MSP were provided noise mitigation at cost of $95 million.[19]
A 2022J.D. Power survey concluded that with ranking the largest US and Canadian airports on a 1,000 point scale based on traveler satisfaction, the airport received a score of 800, ranking it the best airport in the US and Canada. MSP's high ranking was accredited to its recently updated facilities.[20]
Delta A220-300 landing at MSP with a Delta 757-200 taxiing in the foreground.
In 2023, Minneapolis-Saint Paul was recognized byanalytics companyCirium as the world's most punctual international airport, having on-time departure and arrival rates of 84.44% and 84.62% respectively.[21][22]
International arrivals and departures are processed in Concourse G in Terminal 1, and in Terminal 2.[23]
The two terminals are located about one mile (1.6 km) apart and accessed from separate exits ofMinnesota State Highway 5. The arrangement can be confusing for some drivers, as the terminals are not connected within the airport facilities, meaning that taking the wrong exit can cause a delay of several minutes, and require the use of lightrail public transit or the roadway to travel between terminals. In 2010, signage along Highway 5 was updated to make it more clear which airlines serve each terminal.[26][27]
Terminal 1 is named after aviatorCharles Lindbergh, who was raised in Minnesota and Terminal 2 is named after vice presidentHubert Humphrey, who also had represented Minnesota in Congress.
Metro Transit, the region's public transportation provider, operates theBlue Line, a light rail route, on the airport grounds. Travelers can use the line to connect between the two terminals. No fare is charged for passengers only travelling between Terminal 1 and 2, and service between the terminals operates all day (the rest of the line shuts down for about four hours overnight).[28] Beyond the airport, the Blue Line travels to downtown Minneapolis and theMall of America in nearbyBloomington. Metro Transit also operates bus route 54 to St. Paul.
The 934 AW serves as the "host" wing for the installation, which also includes lodging/billeting, officers club, Base Exchange (BX) and other morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) facilities for active, reserve/national guard and retired military personnel and their families.
On March 7, 1950,Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 307, aMartin 2-0-2 diverted fromRochester International Airport crashed 5 km northwest of MSP after first hitting a 70 foot high flagpole with its left wing on final approach, 8/10 of a mile from the touchdown point, in blinding snow. The left wing eventually detached and the aircraft dived and crashed into a house. All 13 passengers and crew and two children in the house were killed. A loss of visual reference to the ground on approach was the probable cause.[68]
On May 10, 2005, Northwest Flight 1495, aMcDonnell Douglas DC-9, suffered a valve fracture and lost hydraulic pressure in its right engine shortly after takeoff fromJohn Glenn Columbus International Airport en route to MSP. The aircraft performed a successful emergency landing at MSP, but began experiencing steering problems and a loss of the brakes while taxiing to the gate, resulting in it colliding with the wing of an Airbus A319-114 at approximately 16 mph. Eight injuries were reported among the crew and passengers of both planes and the ground crew.[69][70]
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