Airport community gears up for record crowds

us bank stadium

After the players leave the field on Super Bowl Sunday, the Minnesota airport community will be gearing up for its own “big game” as it prepares to execute its single largest travel day ever. “Our current one-day high is more than 46,000, and the Monday following the Super Bowl we are forecasting more than 70,000 people in our terminals,” says Sara Freese, assistant director of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) operations. In addition to record-setting commercial travel, regional airports are expecting around 1,100 private planes and jets to arrive in town for the Super Bowl, which will be held February 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Planning is in place

Super Bowl preparations began more than a year ago, with airports from around the state working together with coordinating agencies to ensure Super Bowl visitors have an incredible experience, according to Freese. At MSP, preparations have included visiting Houston’s airport to observe operations during last year’s Super Bowl, attending Disney customer service training, installing thousands of square yards of new carpet, planning for more than 1,500 volunteer shifts, ordering hundreds of new sleeping mats, preparing detailed de-icing and snow removal plans, coordinating with emergency response and law enforcement, and much more. In addition, major airport improvements such as the “vertical circulation project,” which includes the replacement of elevators, escalators, and stairs in Terminal 1, are scheduled for completion prior to the Super Bowl.

“It is our time to showcase our airports and our community,” Freese says. “There will be a lot of people, and the staff and the volunteers are what will make the event successful. Our mission is to boldly welcome Super Bowl LII to Minnesota, where people are surprisingly warm, the airport community world-class, and the experience unforgettable.”

Impacts will be widespread

The high demand for ramp space and capacity limits mean airports well beyond MSP will feel the impacts of the Super Bowl; this includes MSP reliever airports in St. Paul, Anoka, and Flying Cloud as well as airports in St. Cloud, Eau Claire, and even Duluth. The St. Cloud Regional Airport, for example, has been allotted 12 slots per hour—six arrivals and six departures—by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“The FAA has told us to expect to see aircraft operators signing up for slots about a month prior to the game, with the majority signing up about two weeks prior,” says airport manager Bill Towle. “If snow is predicted, we will likely see more aircraft, because we have the snow removal equipment, de-icing capabilities, and operations and maintenance staff to handle 24-hour operations, while a smaller, closer airport might not.”

Nearly 140 miles southwest of Minneapolis, Fairmont Municipal Airport manager Lee Steinkamp is also anticipating possible Super Bowl arrivals. “The weather could play a big role in the level of traffic coming into our airport during the Super Bowl,” Steinkamp says. “We plan to fill the jet fuel tank to ensure we have plenty on hand in case planes do come.”

Challenges and opportunities

Like most Minnesotans, Steinkamp is hoping for warm temperatures during Super Bowl week but making plans in case the weather doesn’t cooperate. “The weather could be our biggest challenge—any sort of weather event could certainly cause problems and delays, and even if there is not a snow or ice event, there will most likely be frost and planes will need to be stored in a hangar or de-iced before takeoff,” says Steinkamp. “The good news is that by meeting these challenges, we’ll be showing people from out of state that our airports and the whole state of Minnesota are open for business, even in the middle of winter.”

Another unique challenge the Super Bowl presents, particularly for smaller airports such as St. Cloud, is staffing. “We will have to stagger staff to accommodate longer days, as these aircraft will be operating well into the early morning after the game is over,” says Towle. “With the specific training that’s required for airport operations and maintenance employees, the airport is unable to simply hire part-timers off the street to help.”

Like his colleagues, however, Towle believes hosting a Super Bowl in Minnesota will lead to future opportunities. “This event will be great marketing for our airport,” he says. “With aircraft coming from all over the country, we will be able to show what a great facility we have and showcase all the things we do well. Hopefully the pilots and the airport users will remember us and will want to pick the St. Cloud Regional Airport as their airport if they need to be in this area in the future.”

Photo: Shutterstock

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