Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport

KMSP Airport Map.png
FAA Airport Diagram
IATA: MSP – ICAO: KMSP – FAA: MSP
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner MAC
Serves Flag of the United States Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota
Elevation AMSL 841 ft / 256 m
Website www.mspairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
4/22 11,000 3,354 Concrete
12R/30L 10,000 3,048 Asphalt/Concrete
12L/30R 8,200 2,499 Asphalt/Concrete
17/35 8,000 2,438 Concrete
Statistics (2007)
Passengers 35,157,322
Traffic Movements 452,972
Source: Passenger & traffic statistics from MSP airport.[1]

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (IATA: MSP, ICAO: KMSP, FAA LID: MSP) is the largest and busiest airport in the five-state upper Midwestern region of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

In terms of passengers, Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport is the twelfth busiest airport in the United States (2006),[2] and twenty-sixth busiest airport in the world in 2007. It is also home to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Joint Air Reserve Station. Airlines out of Minneapolis/St. Paul International airport serve 131 nonstop markets from MSP, including 116 domestic and 14 international markets. Compared to other metropolitan areas in the United States, only Denver serves slightly more non-stop markets per capita.

The airport, including both passenger terminal buildings, is mostly located in the Census-designated place of Fort Snelling in an unincorporated part of Hennepin County. Small sections of the airport are within the city limits of Minneapolis and Richfield. The airport is across the Mississippi River from St. Paul. The terminal exits of the airport are minutes away from the Mall of America; careful flight pattern planning ensures that aircraft never fly over the mall at low altitude. It is the largest 'origin and destination' (O&D) airport for Northwest Airlines soon to be Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlink partners Compass Airlines, Mesaba Airlines, and Pinnacle Airlines, in terms of passengers carried and revenues [1] (all but Compass and Pinnacle having headquarters nearby), the airport is Northwest Airlines busiest hub overall. It also serves as the hub for Sun Country Airlines. Northwest Airlines accounts for more than 80% of the airport's passenger traffic. It is operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which also handles operation of six smaller airports in the region.

The airport first came into being when several local groups came together to take control of the former bankrupt Twin City Speedway race track, giving the airport its original name, Speedway Field. Soon after, in 1921, the airport was renamed Wold-Chamberlain Field for the World 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 very rare to see the Wold-Chamberlain portion of the name used anywhere. In 1938 Howard Hughes briefly stopped at Wold-Chamberlain Field on his round the world flight.

Contents

Description

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport has two terminals, both of which are named for famous Minnesotans: the Lindbergh Terminal (named after the aviator Charles Lindbergh) and the much smaller Humphrey Terminal (named for former US Vice President Hubert Humphrey). Lindbergh Terminal officially has seven concourses, lettered A-G, with the Humphrey terminal labeled as Concourse H. However, this may change in the future, since future expansion plans call for the adding of a Concourse H to the Lindbergh Terminal. United Airlines is closing its Red Carpet club in the Lindbergh Terminal located at concourse E, but United Airlines might open a new Red Carpet club at the Humphrey Terminal when it's expanded.

Like many other airports, MSP interconnects with several other forms of transportation. Several large parking ramps are available for cars. Most other connections are made at the Hub Building and adjacent Transit Center, which has city and shuttle bus, taxi, light-rail, and rental car service. Two trams (people movers) are at the airport. One carries passengers from the main section of Lindbergh Terminal to the Hub Building, and another runs along the long Concourse C in that terminal.

Aerial view of MSP International Airport.

The airport is near Fort Snelling, the site of one of the earliest European settlements in the area. Both the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers flow nearby. Minnesota State Highway 5 provides the closest entrance to the Lindbergh Terminal, just a short distance from Interstate 494. The Humphrey Terminal is accessed via the 34th Avenue exit from I-494, which runs past Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Northwest Airlines has hangars arranged along I-494 and 34th Avenue, so it's possible to see airliners undergoing maintenance while driving past.

The Hiawatha Line light-rail has stops at both the Hub Building (Lindbergh Station) and Humphrey Terminal (Humphrey Station). It connects the airport with downtown Minneapolis as well as with the Mall of America in nearby Bloomington, and operates as a shuttle service between the two airport terminals. Travelers can use the rail line to go between the two sites at all times of day— it is the only part of the line that operates continuously through the night (the rest shuts down for about four hours early in the morning). Passengers going between the two terminals may ride free of charge, but those riding beyond the airport grounds must pay a standard fare. Two parallel tunnels for the line run roughly 70 feet (20 meters) below the airport, and at 1.7 miles (2.7 km) in length are the longest tunnels on the route. The Lindbergh Terminal station is the only one underground on the line, as the rails return to the surface near Humphrey Terminal. Due to current concerns about terrorism, a great deal of effort went into ensuring that the tunnels are highly blast-resistant. The underground portion was the costliest section of the rail project.

Northwest Airlines has expanded operations at the airport over the years. In the past, Northwest and others have proposed moving out of MSP airport and building a new airport on the fringes of the Twin Cities metro area to handle large jets and international traffic. Minneapolis 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 with sound insulation and air 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, stating in part that the economic climate had turned in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who had been a founding member of ROAR, promised that the city would challenge the funding changes.

The 1970 disaster film Airport was partially filmed at MSP, filling in for a fictional Chicago airport. It was followed by several sequels and was a prototype for many disaster films that followed. The airport used colors as the method for naming different concourses for many years, a convention that was duplicated in the movie. Starting in 2000, MSP switched to lettered concourses, which has become standard practice at airports around the world. The color names still survive as the names for the Lindbergh Terminal parking ramp wings.

The Humphrey Terminal used to have all the international flight arrivals but is now used for charter airlines and other carriers. Icelandair started service to Minneapolis from Reykjavik in 1998. Northwest operated flights from Minneapolis to Hong Kong and Osaka in 1998 using 747-400 aircraft, but in the same year were dropped. Northwest also operated Minneapolis to Oslo and Frankfurt service using DC-10 aircraft, but were also dropped. In the late 1990's and early 2000's KLM Royal Dutch Airlines operated 747 and MD-11 service from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. Northwest and KLM have a codeshare agreement on this route. KLM hasn't served Minneapolis with its own aircraft since 2003.

Aeromexico has been granted by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to start non-stop Mexico City-Minneapolis service, but Aeromexico has not made an announcement about service to Minneapolis. The city of Minneapolis would like to give incentives to Lufthansa to start Frankfurt, Germany-Minneapolis service non-stop. Virgin America lists Minneapolis as one of 30 cities it expects to serve in the next 5 years. In 1999 British Airways was considering starting non-stop service from its London Gatwick or London Heathrow hub to Minneapolis. Northwest Airlines has considered starting non-stop Minneapolis-Shanghai service using new Boeing 787 aircraft in 2009. Kenya Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission were in talks about starting Nairobi-Paris-Minneapolis service. In 2000 British Midland sent an application to the DOT to start non-stop service from Manchester International Airport and London Heathrow to Minneapolis. A new carrier will start international air service in Minneapolis this fall, but the Metropolitan Airports Commission has not yet said which carrier. This year the Metropolitan Airports Commission has talked with British Airways, Aeromexico and Lufthansa about service to Minneapolis. When Delta Air Lines takes over the Minneapolis-Paris service it will be year-round service.

MSP 2020 Vision

One of the trams at MSP pulling into a station.

In 2004, Northwest Airlines proposed expanding the Lindbergh Terminal to accommodate growing flight operations in a plan now known as MSP 2020 Vision. The proposed expansion included moving all airlines other than Northwest and its SkyTeam alliance airline partners to the Humphrey Terminal. This reignited concerns about Northwest Airlines' control of the Minneapolis-St. Paul commercial air service market with some claiming that Northwest uses its market position to inflate airfares. While AirTran Airways voiced opposition to the plan, American Airlines and United Airlines remained neutral on the move since both had exclusive terminals at their own main hubs. In May 2005, the MAC approved the plan with the following conditions:

The move was planned to take place in 2007, but with the bankruptcy of Northwest and Mesaba, the expansion plan has been delayed by at least a year, and potentially longer. However, certain aspects of the plan have been implemented or are currently in progress, such as the moving of Midwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, and Icelandair to the Humphrey Terminal, and the construction of an additional parking ramp at the Humphrey Terminal.

Terminals, airlines, and destinations

Lindbergh Terminal

Concourse A

Concourse B

Concourse C

Originally, Concourses C and D were the Green Concourse.

Concourse D

Originally, Concourses C and D were the Green Concourse.

Concourse E

Originally, Concourse E was the Blue Concourse.

Concourse F

Originally, Concourse F was the Red Concourse.

Concourse G (International)

Originally, Concourse G was the Gold Concourse.

Humphrey Terminal

Scheduled

Charter

Cargo carriers

Runways

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport has four runways:

A number of buildings (including hangars) were demolished to make way for the runway protection zone of the new 17/35 landing strip, and plans for expansion at the Mall of America have been hampered by its construction. The new runway 17/35 opened in October, 2005. Aircraft using runway 35 fly slightly east of the Mall of America, overfly Interstate 494, and land only seconds later. Due to noise concerns from South Minneapolis residents, runway 17 was originally designated for use in emergency situations only. However, between 13 August 2007 and 18 October 2007 it was used regularly due to construction on runway 12R/30L.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Passenger and traffic statistics for 2007
  2. ↑ United States' largest airports by number of passengers. Retrieved on October 30 2007.

External links