MSP Airport expecting busy holiday travel period

Airport officials are anticipating a strong holiday travel period this year, with some peak days expected to more than double last year’s numbers.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport expects Dec. 26 to be its busiest day, with Dec. 27 forecast to be a close second. The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) anticipates around 35,000 people will clear security checkpoints each of those two days, a large jump from 21,000 passengers on those same days last year. However, it’s still short of daily pre-pandemic peaks of around 46,000 travelers.

"We’re expecting a very positive push in travel demand as we end 2021," said Brian Ryks, CEO of the MAC, which operates MSP. "There will be extremely busy periods over the next two weeks in our terminals and on our roadways, so we encourage travelers to take steps in advance to be prepared."

Some of the MAC’s tips for travelers include:

• Arriving on time — generally about two hours before a domestic departure or three hours before an international flight.
• Check traffic.
• Go up or down — motorists can use both Terminal 1 roads for picking up and dropping off passengers. This will let passengers save time in front of the terminals and on the roads.
• Wait to wrap gifts until after arriving at your destination.

More tips are available here.