{"id":24802,"date":"2023-02-13T20:38:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T20:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=24802"},"modified":"2023-02-13T20:38:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T20:38:25","slug":"mac-reliever-airports-supported-342000-operations-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/news\/airports\/mac-reliever-airports-supported-342000-operations-in-2022\/%20","title":{"rendered":"MAC Reliever Airports Supported 342,000 Operations in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nMetropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) general aviation system in the Twin\nCities supported a total of 342,136 aircraft operations in 2022. The newly\nreleased year-end operations data accounts for all takeoffs and landings at the\nsystem\u2019s six Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area general aviation airports.\nOperations declined just under 3% compared to the 352,195 total operations in\n2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeneral\naviation activity in the Twin Cities has grown through the pandemic \u2013 even when\ncommercial passenger travel dipped. Operations at our reliever airports last\nyear was 7% greater than in 2019,\u201d said Brian Ryks, CEO of the MAC. \u201cWe are\ncontinuing to invest in the MAC\u2019s reliever system to meet projected demand and\nsupport our flying community and the many aviation businesses that operate at\nour airports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MAC\u2019s general aviation airports support personal, recreational, and business aviation users. They are referred to as \u201creliever airports\u201d within the Twin Cities metropolitan area because they relieve congestion that would otherwise impact Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP), which had\u00c2\u00a0310,235 total operations in 2022<\/a>,<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0a 24% increase over 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\nis significant momentum at our reliever airports with our commercial partners\u2014\nflight training schools, charter operators, maintenance companies fixed-base\noperators and avionics firms\u2014all reporting they are busier than ever,\u201d said Joe\nHarris, director of reliever airports for the MAC. \u201cThe demand we are seeing at\nour relievers includes waitlists for flight training and aircraft maintenance\nactivity, both of which are already scheduling out to late 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three\nreliever airports increased operations in the last year: St. Paul Downtown\nAirport (STP), Crystal Airport (MIC) in northwest Minneapolis and Airlake\nAirport (LVN) located in Lakeville, MN. STP is the MAC\u2019s primary\nbusiness-focused general aviation airport, logging 41,592 operations for a 4.9%\nincrease over 2021. Corporate jet activity continued to rebound in 2022,\nespecially with fewer pandemic restrictions to international travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flying\nCloud (FCM), located in Eden Prairie, is the busiest reliever airport in the\nMAC system. In 2022, FCM had 122,281 total operations, a decline of 7% over\n131,593 the prior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MAC Reliever Airport\u00c2\u00a0Operations <\/td><\/tr>
\n Airport <\/strong>(web links)<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n 2021<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n 2022<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n %\n Change<\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n FCM<\/a>\n <\/td>\n 131,593\n <\/td>\n 122,281\n <\/td>\n (7.08) %\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n MIC<\/a>\n <\/td>\n 37,845\n <\/td>\n 42,592\n <\/td>\n 12.54 %\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n STP<\/a>\n <\/td>\n 39,196\n <\/td>\n 41,592\n <\/td>\n 4.90 %\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n ANE<\/a>\n <\/td>\n 74,657\n <\/td>\n 65,688\n <\/td>\n (12.01) %\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n LVN<\/a>\n <\/td>\n 36,259\n <\/td>\n 38,268\n <\/td>\n 5.54 %\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n 21D<\/a>\n <\/td>\n 32,645\n <\/td>\n 32,189\n <\/td>\n (1.40) %\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n  \n <\/td>\n 352,195\n <\/td>\n 342,136\n <\/td>\n (2.86) %\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Click here to view a complete summary of 2022 reliever airport statistics.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lake Elmo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the past five years, the MAC has invested more than $50 million to provide a safe, efficient, and modern reliever airport system. One of the latest projects was the completion of a new 3,500-foot runway at Lake Elmo Airport (21D), which opened to air traffic in July 2022. It is 650 feet longer than the previous runway, which will be converted to a taxiway later this year. Improved instrument approaches will also be implemented this year at Lake Elmo as part of the\u00c2\u00a0multi-year project<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to improve airfield infrastructure and provide safer operations. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nMAC\u2019s reliever airport system generates an estimated $756 million annually for\nthe area economy. It also supports more than 3,600 jobs. The reliever system\naccommodates 850 hangar buildings for nearly 1,300 aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nMAC\u2019s reliever airports host numerous community events annually including Girls\nin Aviation Day and the AirExpo aircraft showcase at Flying Cloud, the Father\u2019s\nDay pancake breakfast at Crystal, and the Pan-o-Prog Fly-in Breakfast at\nAirlake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) general aviation system in the Twin Cities supported a total of 342,136 aircraft operations in 2022. The newly released year-end operations data accounts for all takeoffs and landings at the system\u2019s six Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area general aviation airports. Operations declined just under 3% compared to the 352,195 total operations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airports","category-minnesota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MSP-Announcement-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24805,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24802\/revisions\/24805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}