Celebrating 80 years of reaching new heights - 2023 Annual Report
2023 marked the 80th anniversary of the MAC. Looking back at the MAC’s origins, the hope was that the airport known today as Minneapolis-St. Paul International (MSP) would become a gateway to the world and bring economic development to the Twin Cities region. In 80 years, MSP has grown from serving 108,000 total passengers and supporting 8,900 airline operations to 34.7 million passengers and more than 320,000 airline operations – numbers never imagined in 1943.
In 1943, Holman Field – now the St. Paul Downtown Airport – was the primary airport in the Twin Cities and the headquarters for Northwest Airlines operations until it moved to MSP in 1960. Today, St. Paul is a popular home base for corporate aircraft and aircraft charter services, and the airport has nearly 40,000 takeoffs and landings annually.
The MAC’s founders wanted to unify the greater Twin Cities community around its shared airport resources. They saw the potential of a coordinated airport system accommodating both large and small aircraft, commercial and recreational flights, and cargo as well as pilot training resources. The MAC has realized that potential, growing from a two-airport system in 1943 to today’s seven-airport system with the ability to serve a broad range of aviation needs across the metro.
