Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday reported strong year-over-year gains in air travel in 2021, but at levels that were still 36% lower than those reported before the COVID-19 outbreak.
More than 25 million people flew into or out of MSP last year, almost a 70% increase over 2020. But that total fell far short of 2019, when a record 39.5 million passengers took to the skies here.
"While the rebound in passengers this past year is encouraging, we are still faced with many challenges and uncertainties with air travel because of the continued spread of COVID globally," said Brian Ryks, CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which operates MSP.
Twenty-seven year-round or seasonal domestic destinations were added at MSP last year, according to the MAC. The airport reported 137 non-stop destinations in 2021, an increase over the 119 destinations tallied in 2020 but down from 167 destinations available before the pandemic.
MSP served 118 domestic destinations during 2021, compared with 137 in 2019. The airport has recovered 19 out of 30 pre-pandemic international routes, the MAC reported.
MSP handled 303,850 takeoffs and landings in 2021, an increase of 24% from 2020. That compares with 406,124 takeoffs and landings in 2019. The MAC said passenger airline operations in 2021 averaged about 741 a day, down from more than 1,000 daily in 2019.
In 2021, most passengers at MSP — about 24 million — flew to or from domestic destinations, compared with 740,879 on international flights, the MAC said.
The top five airlines at MSP last year in passenger market share were Delta Air Lines, 72%; Sun Country Airlines, 10%; American Airlines, 5.5%; Southwest Airlines, 4.7%; and United Airlines, 3.6%. Those figures include the airlines' regional affiliates.
