Aviation

Connecting the region to the country and the world

Air transportation provides a national and global reach for the fast movement of people and time sensitive freight, offering significant advantages for long-distance travel and transport. It differs from other metro systems in that aviation facilities only interact with the rest of the surface transportation system at certain concentrated locations. In addition, the majority of aviation system users are traveling to, or coming from, destinations outside the metropolitan area.

With the unique role airports play in interstate commerce, the federal government has significant influence on aviation. Airports are locally owned and sponsored but must meet federal development and operational requirements. All airspace regulations and air traffic control are under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration. Local land use controls are primarily intended to minimize impacts from aircraft operations and to ensure the continued safe operations of airports.

Twin Cities regional aviation system 

The region has a well-developed aviation system. While the system is mature, it still requires periodic review of system roles of the region’s airports as use patterns evolve over time, continued protection, maintenance, and enhancements to support the Twin Cities economy and transportation infrastructure. The Twin Cities region is served by one major airport with commercial air service — Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport — and eight reliever airports for general aviation, business, and recreational users. Two seaplane bases are also parts of the system. In addition, there are many private air facilities, heliports and water bodies where aircraft may operate within the region.

The rapid evolution of the Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industries has also introduced new operational locations and vehicles which fly in the region. UAS for personal and commercial use are proliferating rapidly. New AAM technologies are seeking to make regional air travel commercially viable for trips beyond the existing airport infrastructure. The Council will continue to study and monitor these trends to ensure that negative impacts are mitigated, and major opportunities are harnessed to benefit residents of the Metro.
The airports are classified according to their role within the regional aviation system as a Major, Intermediate, Minor, or Special Purpose facility. Some of the regional aviation system classifications are set in state law. Most notably, the Minor Airport classification is tied to the length of an airport’s runway at 5,000 feet. In order for Minor Airports to be upgraded to Intermediate Airports, updates to state statute are required. Eight of the nine airports in the system airports are part of the National Plan of Integrated Airports (NPIAS), which makes them eligible for federal funding. State funding is not contingent on being in the NPIAS and all regional public use airports are eligible for state funding for improvements.

MSP International Airport is the Major airport in the region and serves as a major hub for the Upper Midwest. Delta Airlines maintains a strong presence after the merger with Northwest Airlines and considers MSP to be its second-largest hub behind Atlanta. Sun County Airlines also hubs out of MSP and currently has its corporate headquarters located at MSP. Prior to the COVID pandemic, MSP handled over 39 million passengers, nearly 406,000 aircraft operations and approximately 228,000 metric tons of cargo in 2019. As the aviation system continues to recover, MSP saw 34.7 million passengers, 323,000 operations and 203,000 metric tons of cargo in 2023. The reliever airports handled 382,000 aircraft operations in 2022.

The regional system of airports serves the metropolitan area with long-term comprehensive plans for each individual airport. These plans are developed for each airport by their operators to understand expected aviation operation forecasts, identify long term investment needs for each airport, and analyze airport impacts on the surrounding environment, including noise impacts to ensure both airports and surrounding communities can adequately plan for expected future activity.

Met Council’s role in the aviation system

The Met Council works with the Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC), airport users, owners, affected communities, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to develop the aviation system plan as part of the region’s Transportation Policy Plan.

  • Prepares a guide for the orderly and economic development, private and public, of the Twin Cities area
  • Reviews MAC’s airport, environmental and capital plans/programs
  • Reviews community plans and public/private projects for compatibility with regional airports and aviation policies
  • Provides coordination, funding, and technical assistance for planning activities
  • Conducts studies and research to advance aviation in the region and prepare local governments for any aviation industry changes which may influence local land use considerations

Regional Aviation System Plan (RASP)

One of the tasks assigned to the Met Council is the development of a regional aviation system plan that sets regional aviation policy, examines industry trends for future action, outlines investment sources and needs, classifies regional airports, establishes mitigation thresholds for noise impacts, describes airspace requirements and catalogues facilities in the region, among others. This plan is prepared along with the Transportation Policy Plan and is included as a dedicated chapter to aviation. Aviation planning is unique in the TPP as aviation system planning is not a federal requirement, rather it is a requirement in state law. Initially the RASP was an independent document but was folded into the TPP to ensure consistency with other modal plans and for ease of use for partners.

Meetings

2050 Transportation Policy Plan

The Council is leading an update to the RASP as part of the 2050 TPP planning process. Due to timing constraints of the federally required elements of the Plan, the aviation element of the TPP is being updated in a dual path manner. Currently a minor update of the aviation element of the TPP is included with the overall plan to be adopted in February of 2025. 

Simultaneously, a more thorough update of the plan is being conducted which will include a review of aviation industry trends, update of regional aviation policies and actions, updated aviation activity projections to 2050 and more. These trend papers explore emerging industry and regulatory trends in the nation and are serving as the main analysis for needed update to the 2050 TPP.

Aviation studies and reports