Story and photos by Scott Jankowski
This past October, I had a chance to do some spotting and photography up at the Minneapolis St-Paul Minnesota International Airport. KMSP is a major hub for Delta and Delta Connection Airlines as well as the hub and headquarters for Sun Country Airlines. For the month of October, the airport handled a total of 3.1 million passengers, saw almost 30,000 aircraft movements and moved almost 19,000 Metric Tons of freight and mail. Minneapolis International Airport has 4 runways, 7 concourses, 2 terminals, and 131 gates with a total of 29 airlines serving the airport on a year-round or seasonal basis. Signature Flight Support is the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) on the field and handles all general aviation movements along with some of the transient military movements and charters. The U.S. Military has a significant presence at the airport in the form of a pair of Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules units, the 133rd Airlift Wing which is part of the Minnesota Air National Guard and the 934th Airlift Wing which is part of the Unted States Air Force Reserve. There is a little bit of everything traffic-wise to be found at this airport.
Delta and Delta Connection Airlines (Operated by Endeavor and SkyWest Airlines) account for 80% of all airline traffic and operates approximately 330 daily flights to over 119 destinations worldwide. Delta inherited this hub operation from past airlines Northwest, Republic, and North Central who all had a sizeable presence here. Delta carried over 1.8 million passengers with Delta Connection carriers adding another 360,000 passengers for a total of a little over 2.1 million passengers handled in the month of October. Delta operated a little over 13,000 flights with the Delta Connection carriers adding roughly 6,000 for a total of 13,600 flights operated. With the exception of the Boeing 767-400ER you will see just about every type of aircraft in their fleets at Minneapolis.
During my visit several different Airbus types were seen and included A220-100, A220-300, A319, A320, A321, A321NEO, A330-200, A330-900, and A350-900 types.
Boeing built aircraft included the 717, 737-900ER, 757-200, and the 757-300.
Delta Connection aircraft included the Embraer 175 and the Mitsubishi CRJ-900.
Minneapolis is also home to Sun Country Airlines which flies an all Boeing 737-800 fleet of passenger and freighter types. Sun Country serves approximately 110 destinations from Minneapolis and carried approximately 310,000 passengers on a total of almost 3,000 flights for the month of October. Sun Country also provides lift for Amazon Prime which adds another 240 flights and a little over 6.1 million pounds of cargo moved. Boeing 737-800’s in all four-color schemes were seen during my visit.
All other major U.S. airlines along with their regional affiliates also serve Minneapolis including Alaska, American, American Eagle (operated by Envoy), Southwest, United, and United Express (operated by Mesa and SkyWest Airlines). Low-cost carriers included Frontier and Spirit Airlines, international airlines spotted included WestJet and Lufthansa. Denver Air Connection flies several EAS (Essential Air Service) routes out of Minneapolis. Several other airlines also service Minneapolis, which combined add another 610,000 passengers and 5,400 aircraft operations.
Airbus manufactured A321 types were seen.
Boeing manufactured 737-700,737-800,737-8MAX, 737-900, and 787-8 types were seen.
Embraer manufactured E-145, and E-175 types were seen.
Air cargo plays a vital role in the region with a total of 6 all cargo airlines serving Minneapolis. These airlines added another 1,200 aircraft operations with a total of 33.6 million pounds of cargo and mail moved for the month of October. All cargo airlines spotted included: Amazon Air (Operated by Sun Country Airlines), Bemidji Airlines (Operating for DHL and UPS), FedEx, and UPS. Aircraft types seen included: Airbus A300F, Beechcraft 99, Boeing 737-800F and MD-11F, and the Fairchild Metroliner.
General Aviation added another 1,600 movements with a mixture of Cessna Citation, Gulfstream 280, and Embraer 135 types. The U.S. military accounted for another 68 aircraft movements for the month of October.
The photos taken in this article were from 2 different locations around the Minneapolis St-Paul International Airport. The first location is considered the “official” spotting location at the airport and can be found at the end of cargo road, adjacent to the FedEx ramp. The location will allow you views of most areas around the airport with great views of the arrivals and departures off Runway 12Right/30Left as well as Runway 4/22. Arrivals and departures off Runway 12Left/30Right are visible but distance makes photography difficult. The sun angle is best in the midafternoon until sundown. The other location is actually off airport and were taken from my room on the 6th floor of the Embassy Suites by Hilton Minneapolis Airport. When arrivals or departures are using Runway 17/35 the North facing rooms give you an excellent view, photographs are possible even through the glass windows. The Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport is the 18th busiest airport in the United States and offers a little bit of everything the enthusiast would want to see despite the obvious heavy Delta presence. This airport is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area. Until next time, “Blue Skies To All!”.
