MSP passenger traffic rises for 3rd straight year, hits 34.7 million

More than 34.7 million travelers flew in or out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last year, marking the third straight year of growth and the most since before the pandemic when record numbers of flyers passed through the terminals.

A big jump in international travelers helped fuel an overall 11% increase in passenger traffic at MSP last year when compared with 2022 when 31.2 million travelers started or ended their trips at MSP or caught a connecting flight, according to figures released Wednesday by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which operates the airport.

MSP served nearly 3 million passengers traveling to or from overseas destinations last year, the MAC said.

“We are encouraged by the rebound in international service to new and existing destinations,” said Brian Ryks, the MAC’s CEO. “We continue to see growing demand for travel overseas, to Canada and to warm and sunny destinations across Mexico and the Caribbean.”

International travel could grow even more in 2024 and push overall passenger traffic at MSP closer to the all-time record of 39.5 million set in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 severely reduced demand.

Delta Air Lines, the dominant carrier at MSP, restarted nonstop service to Tokyo last year and in May plans to add service to Dublin, Ireland. WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, entered the market and started service between MSP and Edmonton and Saskatoon last year. It plans to add service to Regina, Saskatchewan, this spring.

Aer Lingus will resume flights between MSP and Ireland’s capital in April after a four-year hiatus. And German-based Lufthansa will become the 18th airline to serve MSP when it begins service to Frankfurt in June. With Aer Lingus’ return and Lufthansa’s arrival, MSP’s service to international destinations will match pre-pandemic levels.

Domestic travel continued its comeback after the pandemic, with 31.7 million passengers passing through MSP. That was up from 29.2 million in 2022. Travelers at MSP also had more nonstop options last year as carriers flew directly to 156 destinations, a jump from 145 the previous year. That number is expected to grow to 161 this year as airlines such as Sun Country add destinations, the MAC said.

Delta Air Lines flew the most passengers and captured 70.3% of fliers at MSP last year. Hometown airline Sun Country served the next most with 11.3% followed by Southwest, United, American and Spirit.

The airport also saw an increase in seats available for sale last year, rising from 50,600 in 2022 to 56,823 last year. The 323,929 takeoffs and landings also surpassed 2022 levels of 310,269.