Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) was recently named the most efficient North American airport in its class for the third year in a row.
On July 3 in Amsterdam, the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) presented MSP with its Award of Excellence, which recognizes efficiency in productivity and operations, unit-cost competitiveness and comparisons of airport charges.
Operating efficiently is a key metric that airlines use in deciding to serve an airport and is one reason MSP has been able to continue as a strong Delta Air Lines hub and attract new carriers such as Aer Lingus, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines.
“The ATRS award is another sign of MSP’s unrelenting focus on efficient operations,” said Brian Ryks, the executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates MSP. “The fact that we’ve been recognized by ATRS for efficiency, while also winning the customer-focused ACI award three years running, is a testament to the excellent customer service provided daily by thousands of airport employees.”
Earlier this year, MSP was named the best airport in North America for its size for the third year in a row by Airports Council International (ACI).
With this year’s ATRS award, MSP was the top North American airport for efficiency excellence in 2019 in the 25 million-to-40 million-passenger-per-year category.
The methodology for the ATRS award takes into account labor and other non-capital costs, and includes factors such as aircraft movements, passenger numbers and other revenue sources.
The ATRS is an industry group that was formed in 1995 as part of the World Conference on Transport Research Society. The latest report includes 204 airports and 24 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.