About the MAC

The Minnesota Legislature created the MAC in 1943 to promote the efficient, safe handling of air commerce and to develop the full potential of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area as an aviation center. 

As a public corporation of the state, the MAC generates the revenues it needs to operate through rents and user fees, not general tax appropriations. Bonding and financing authority – along with MAC-generated cash and state and federal aviation grants and fees – fund capital investments in the MAC’s seven-airport system. The organization maintains a AA minus senior bond rating, among the highest of any U.S. airport operator. 

The organization is governed by a 15-member policy board. The MAC board establishes policies, ordinances and budgets and approves large expenditures. 

Minnesota’s governor appoints the board chair and 12 commissioners, eight of whom represent metropolitan districts and four who represent Greater Minnesota. 

The mayors of Minneapolis and Saint Paul are commissioners but may appoint a representative to serve in their place. The chair and mayoral appointees serve at the will of the elected officials who appoint them. 

All other commissioners serve four-year, staggered terms, providing continuity when administrations change. 

Two new commissioners joined the board in February 2021. James Lawrence, representing District C and Timothy Baylor, representing District D, both appointed by Gov. Tim Walz.  

After 15 months of meeting virtually, the board returned to in-person meetings in July, following the cancelation of the State's peacetime emergency declaration.

The MAC board had much to discuss and deliberate on in 2021, including continuing to contend with the economic and operational challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Below are a some of the notable actions the board took in 2021: 

• Approving a 2021 budget (in December 2020) focused on reducing expenses and increasing efficiency 
• Providing financial breaks to key airport tenants whose success is vital to our own 
• Unanimously approving a resolution to cancel and condemn discriminatory covenants in deeds of properties purchased by the MAC  
• Establishing Juneteenth as an official MAC holiday 
• Supporting an airport-wide equity advisory committee, which will advise the MAC on ways to promote equity in the organization’s programs, policies, regulations and activities.