MSP Airport passenger numbers climbed closer to pre-pandemic levels last year, report shows
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport saw nearly 35 million travelers in 2023, trending closer to pre-pandemic numbers.
The 34,770,800 passengers is still nearly 5 million short of the record number seen in 2019, but it's 9 million higher than 2021 and 3 million higher than 2022. The numbers come from a new report from the Metropolitan Airports Commission.
MAC attributed the rebound, in part, to the "ongoing recovery in international travel." Almost 3 million of 2023's passengers were international travelers, a 47% increase from the year before.
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"We continue to see growing demand for travel overseas, to Canada, and to warm and sunny destinations across Mexico and the Caribbean," MAC CEO Brian Ryks said. "Heading into this new year, we remain focused on providing travelers with exceptional airport experiences and supporting airlines as they increase nonstop destinations and frequencies of flights for Minnesota businesses and travelers."
MAC said international travel will expand this year, with WestJet adding service to Saskatchewan, Aer Lingus resuming service to Dublin, Delta adding a Dublin destination and Lufthansa providing flights to Frankfurt.
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In total, there were 323,929 takeoffs and landings at MSP last year, with 56,823 seats departing the airport daily on average.
Delta Air Lines accounted for the vast majority of flights — more than 70%. Sun Country was second with 11%. Southwest, United and American each accounted for a little less than 5%. Spirit totaled just over 1%.
On the cargo side, 203,643 metric tons passed through the airport.
Note: The video above originally aired Jan. 22, 2024.
