 At its October meeting, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) board unanimously approved a resolution to cancel and condemn discriminatory covenants in deeds of properties purchased by the MAC.
“The Metropolitan Airports Commission is fully committed to equity, diversity and inclusiveness and to equal access to our airports,” said MAC Chair Rick King. “While we can’t erase any harm discriminatory covenants caused in the years before MAC purchased properties, we can and do condemn such covenants and are taking action to formally render such language null and void.”
Up until the 1960s, many property deeds throughout the nation included discriminatory restrictive covenants barring use of the property by certain individuals – most often people of color and non-Christians. While enforcement of such covenants has been illegal for decades, they remained embedded in property deeds.
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 The Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) program recently recertified the carbon emissions reduction program at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), measuring cuts accomplished at MSP in 2019.
The worldwide ACA program encourages airports to develop plans to reduce their carbon footprint and recognizes achievements through various certification levels.
MSP was renewed as a Level 2 airport in the latest study, which did not include 2020 because of the pandemic and accompanying drops in activity at airports. MSP’s 2019 emissions were compared with the average of the three years prior, showing a 5 percent year-over-year reduction.
“The reductions in 2019 are part of a campus-wide effort to cut emissions, and we’re thankful to all airport staff and our business partners for helping move toward our larger goal,” said Christene Sirois Kron, manager of the Metropolitan Airports Commission’s Sustainability program.
Maintaining Level 2 status is key to the MAC’s 2030 target of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent, which also included the development of a Carbon Management Plan and a 2030 Emissions Reduction Roadmap.
Joseph Hennessy, previously the Metropolitan Airports Commission's (MAC) manager of Safety Management Systems, was recently named the organization's first integrated operations director.
In his new role, Hennessy will promote cross-functional alignment, communication and data-driven decision-making, with a focus on safety, efficiency and performance. He'll oversee airfield operations, process integration and optimization, operation analysis and planning, airfield regulatory compliance and technical operations training programs.
In his previous position, Hennessy lead development of an enterprise safety policy. He has collaborated with the MAC's Risk Management office to integrate and strengthen risk management and safety programs. Additionally, he has played key roles in the MAC’s COVID-19 response and in operational change management activities.
Prior to joining the MAC in March 2019, Hennessy was safety manager at Life Link III and, before that, safety specialist at Northwest and Delta Air Lines.
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A recent story in Airport Improvement magazine highlighted the importance of the Metropolitan Airports Commissions’ six general aviation airports.
These airports are scattered around the Twin Cities metro area and help handle demand for flight training, military flight operations, corporate and recreational flying. Some even experienced increases in flights during the pandemic.
Read the story here and learn more about their history here.
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For the 37th consecutive year, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association. The award recognizes budget documents that excel as a policy record, financial plan, operations guide and communication tool.
The criteria for the 2021 budget award include inclusion of a long list of detailed financial information and broad explanations of strategic goals, discussions of significant revenue trends, and department and program descriptions.
“Receiving news of this award each year never grows old because it acknowledges the Finance Department staff, who consistently produce an excellent product in collaboration with other MAC departments,” said Tim Simon, the MAC’s vice president of Finance and Revenue Development. “We aim for excellence every year and we’re honored to be recognized again.”
On Oct. 2, 2021, the Navigating MSP program celebrated its 100th session. The program, launched in 2013, offers children and adults with special needs - along with their families - the opportunity for a test run through MSP Airport and on an airplane before they actually take a trip.
The 100th session included the typical program activities like passing through a TSA security checkpoint, exploring the terminal and getting on an actual plane (this time a Delta aircraft) where participants learned about the boarding process and what happens in flight.
“We’ve been fortunate to assist hundreds of families over the years, and the volunteers who guide the families find it as rewarding as the participants do,” said Phil Burke, the assistant director of Customer Experience at MSP.
Eight families attended this special occasion, and each one had a Delta Air Lines pilot to show them around the airport and the airplane.
The test-run portion of the session was followed by a celebratory lunch in the Airport Conference Center in Terminal 1 (pictured).
Launched in 2013 as Navigating Autism with MSP, the program was rebranded as Navigating MSP in 2015 to accommodate anyone that would benefit from a practice run. Since then, more than 4,100 individuals from 1,200 families have participated in Navigating MSP.
The program is offered once a month, on the first or second Saturday.
Full information about the program and how to participate is available here.
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Sun Country Airlines, a Twin Cities-based airline, recently announced 11 nonstop routes and welcomed seven new airports into its network, with service from MSP beginning in April of 2022.
The cities with new, nonstop service will include Buffalo, N.Y.; Burlington, Vt.; Charleston S.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Spokane, Wash., and Vancouver.
Beginning April 7, 2022, Sun Country will offer nonstop flights to New Orleans and Charleston S.C. Service to one of the new airports to join Sun Country’s network --Jacksonville, Fla. -- begins April 8.
Check out this news release for all the details and when service begins for each destination.
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 As Minnesota celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 11, Arts@MSP was pleased to highlight the addition of an all-digital art gallery at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) featuring the popular Minnesota Ojibwe Artist Jonathan Thunder and his Manifest’o exhibit. The exhibit will be on long-term display in the digital gallery located in the terminal connector to Concourse B.
The Manifest’o exhibit features a colorful scene through animated vignettes that reflect Ojibwe narratives of water, land, and sky. “Today, Ojibwe people of this region perceive the landscape with these stories in mind. It is through this lens that you are invited to see and hear,” Thunder said.
Thunder, an enrolled member of the Minnesota’s Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, was raised in the Twin Cities. He shares these contemporary adaptations of stories heard during his travels in northern parts of the state, where seven Ojibwe reservations are located.
While the exhibit is only accessible to travelers at MSP Airport, you can learn more about the exhibit by visiting the Airport Foundation MSP’s website. Additional images can be found at this website.
Autumn is in the air, and we want to know your thoughts about getting in the air this season.
MSP Airport is soliciting input from prospective travelers via a survey that gauges attitudes about and interest in air travel. The answers help shape the MSP travel experience as the COVID-19 era becomes more manageable.
Even if you’ve already taken the survey, please consider taking it again, as your thoughts and answers may have changed over time.
Survey takers have shown interest in MSP's safety initiatives, such as the increased presence of hand sanitizer dispensers, the face mask requirement and the airport’s efforts to increase physical distancing. All of those efforts are part of the airport's Travel Confidently program.
We appreciate your continued interest in helping us make air travel as safe and comfortable as possible.
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