New Figures Show Good News for Fliers at Minnesota’s Biggest Airport
A new report has good news if you're doing any flying later this spring or summer and you're leaving from Minnesota's biggest airport.
One of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic over the past two years has been the airlines. It was a little over two years ago, right after the pandemic first hit, when airlines parked planes and shuttered businesses at airports because no one was traveling.
Thankfully, those numbers started to bounce back in 2021 and have continued to improve during the first quarter of 2022. But a new aviation data survey quoted in the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal shows that things aren't quite back to normal here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
According to the report, while 24 of the 100 busiest airports in the country have reported travel figures that matched their total from the first quarter of 2019-- before the pandemic-- that wasn't quite the case here at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (MSP) in Bloomington.
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In fact, the story says that here in the North Star State, while travel is up at MSP, it's not up as much as at other airports. The busiest 24 airports in the survey reported first-quarter domestic flight totals were at 91% of pre-pandemic levels.
But here in the Bold North, the story said MSP reported domestic flight totals in the first quarter that were only at 79% of the same quarter in 2019. And, even a much busier spring break season at MSP this year only boosted domestic flight levels to just 77 percent of spring break totals before the pandemic in 2019, the story noted.
And while MSP airport officials no doubt wish those numbers were higher, those figures do contain some good news for you and me-- because MSP is still not quite as busy as it was three years ago (meaning you'll likely get through security a little quicker.)
MSP is, of course, one of Delta Airlines' big hubs in North America. It merged with Northwest Airlines in 2008. Northwest was one of those brands that was once huge here in Minnesota (kind of like Dayton's also was) but that now no longer exists. Which is the same for many of the following famous brands. Keep scrolling to see how many YOU remember!
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