MSP Airport / Metropolitan Airports Commission

[mulad]

talindsay must be right, because I have a shot of that one used as my computer desktop wallpaper at home.

[mattaudio]

Come on guys, that's not safe for work. Just look at that orbiter vehicle violate that aircraft.

[mattaudio]

Apparently Delta has applied for Summer flights to Reykjavik. Not sure if the market can really withstand two airlines flying to Iceland, and Icelandair has better connectivity, so we'll see what's going on with that.

I don't think there was ever an update on this one.
U.S. airline Delta has canceled plans for scheduled flights between Keflavík International Airport and Minneapolis next summer as the company was unable to obtain service slots at the airport. In summer 2014, Delta offered daily flights between Iceland and New York.
http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/12/2 ... is-flights

[matt91486]

I don't think there was ever an update on this one.
U.S. airline Delta has canceled plans for scheduled flights between Keflavík International Airport and Minneapolis next summer as the company was unable to obtain service slots at the airport. In summer 2014, Delta offered daily flights between Iceland and New York.
http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/12/2 ... is-flights

I didn't realize that Reykjavik was that tightly slot-controlled. Though it could be that the airport doesn't want to upset Icelandair.

[talindsay]

Anybody who's been in KEF can tell you that it has like twenty gates - ten on the North America side and ten on the Europe side - and Icelandair uses probably 16 of them. And no, those aren't actual numbers - I don't know what the real number is - but it's the smallest massively-international airport I've ever been in, and it's crazy how efficiently Icelandair swaps the matrix of passengers from the NA side to the EUR side and vice-versa to make really tight connections. It's an amazing logistical operation they run, unlike anything I've seen at other airports. It's crazy-efficient for Icelandair but means that poor KEF deals with insanely high peak loads for a few hours each day and presumably sits almost idle most of the rest of the time.

[froggie]

I know from personal experience that KEF is also a military airport, so that might explain some of the timeslot requirements.

[talindsay]

Right, at the peak of the cold war it was a lynch pin strategically. My understanding was that the military operations have been minuscule since 1991 though - is that not true?

[froggie]

I was last there in 2003, when there were still moderate military operations.

[Nathan]

I wasn't looking for military things when I was there in 2011, but I didn't see them in the terminal either. It's definitely a tiny place.

[mattaudio]

It's not really a capacity issue, it's a protectionism issue. The icelandic government has tried to protect IcelandAir through tight slot controls. The terminal, from what I've heard, is only busy with two "banks" per day... one eastbound, and one westbound (similar to Northwest/Delta's waning Tokyo hub). The rest of the day, there's plenty of terminal capacity.

Another Icelandic airline, WOW Air, is currently suing the government to gain slots for their operations. If the suit is successful, I bet Delta will get their slots too.

[grant1simons2]

Graves reveals the rendering for the airport hotel: http://www.startribune.com/blogs/296558491.html

[Anondson]

It's not bad. There was no way to "activate the street" here, there isn't one to activate. Connected to the airport via skyway (via security checkpoint) is excellent, I hope that means it has a link to the LRT station that doesn't involve having to pass through TSA-level security every time.

[MNdible]

The hotel is really getting built "out of order" relative to the rest of the airport master plan. So for the time being, I think the Skyway into C will be the only connection to the airport, short of getting in a car. Eventually, that Skyway will get extended over to G, and the new parking ramps will get built, and there will be some sort of connection to the LRT.

[mattaudio]

Speaking of, I keep wondering why they plan the international arrivals curbside are to be on the southern leg of the terminal road, in line with an expansion of Concourse G. It seems to me like it would be better to straddle the east edge of the (planned expanded) parking ramps opposite the existing curbside area, so it could better integrate with the landside tram and the ground transport center/ LRT station. FIS could be on the upper level with secure connectivity from a large section of G gates but also A/C gates (with some rework, depending on demand).

[Tyler]

The hotel is really getting built "out of order" relative to the rest of the airport master plan. So for the time being, I think the Skyway into C will be the only connection to the airport, short of getting in a car. Eventually, that Skyway will get extended over to G, and the new parking ramps will get built, and there will be some sort of connection to the LRT.

So you'll need to take a cab to/from the airport if you have checked bags? Might as well be off-property.

[mattaudio]

No, you can take the landside tram to the main ticketing area.

[Nathan]

I mean, wouldn't you suspect the hotel would have a connector shuttle in the mean time? I doubt they're going to force their patrons to take a cab.

[MNdible]

No, you can take the landside tram to the main ticketing area.

I actually don't think you'll be able to do this -- there's not an obvious way to get between the two spots until the future phases of infrastructure gets built out.

I would expect that the hotel will offer a concierge type service, similar to curbside baggage checking, that will occur right at the hotel, allowing you to bypass the ticketing hall altogether.

[Tyler]

I mean, wouldn't you suspect the hotel would have a connector shuttle in the mean time? I doubt they're going to force their patrons to take a cab.

yeah. duh.

[mattaudio]

Oh, I had heard what is probably a rumor at some point (I can't find it if it was something I read) that there was going to be some sort of temporary walkway between the hotel and the GTC. There's precedence for this, the old temporary walkway between T2 and T2 LRT until they built the new T2 ramps.