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| Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport straddles the southern border of the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a major hub for Northwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines, both headquarted nearby. Northwest accounts for more than 70% of the airport's passenger traffic. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport's IATA Airport Code is MSP. It is operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which also handles operation of six smaller airports in the region. |
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Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport has two terminals, both of which are named for famous Minnesotans; the Lindbergh Terminal (named for aviator Charles Lindbergh) and the much smaller Humphrey Terminal (named for former US vice president Hubert H. Humphrey).
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, 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 Bulding, and another runs along a long concourse in that terminal.
The airport is near Fort Snelling, one of the earliest white settlements in the area which is now a historic site. 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 easier to access via the 34th Avenue exit from I-494. That road runs past Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Some airlines at the airport have hangars arranged along I-494 and 34th Avenue, so it's possible to see airliners undergoing maintenance while driving past, although some hangars have been removed in recent years.
The Hiawatha Line light-rail project has stops at both the Hub Building and Humphrey Terminal. It is used to connect the airport to downtown Minneapolis as well as the Mall of America in nearby Bloomington, and operates as a shuttle service between the two airport terminals. Travelers can use the rail line for free 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 beyond the airport grounds must pay a standard fare, however. 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 expanding one of the regional airports farther out in 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.
Lindbergh Terminal
* Air Canada
* AirTran
* America West Airlines
* American Airlines
* ATA
* Chautauqua Airlines d/b/a American Connection
* Comair d/b/a Delta Connection
* Continental Airlines
* Continental Express
* Delta Air Lines
* Frontier Airlines
* Great Lakes Aviation
* Icelandair (Keflavik)
* KLM
* Mesaba Airlines d/b/a Northwest Airlink
* Midwest Connect
* Northwest Airlines
* Pinnacle Airlines d/b/a Northwest Airlink
* Skywest d/b/a Delta Connection
* United Airlines
* US Airways
Humphrey Terminal
* Casino Express Airlines
* Champion Air
* Miami Air International
* Ryan International Airlines
* Sun Country Airlines
* Transmeridian
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport". |
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