These Are Now The Five Busiest Airlines in Minnesota

Minnesota's biggest airport just compiled the list of airlines that served the most passengers in 2023.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) is the largest airport in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. So it's no surprise that a LOT of Minnesotans (and Iowans and Wisconsinites and others) head through the TSA checkpoints at MSP each year.

After passenger rates fell off a cliff due to the pandemic in 2020, more and more passengers have been returning and flying in and out of MSP. According to a release, MSP 'surpassed 34.7 million total passengers in 2023, up 11 percent from 2022 and closing in on its record of 39.5 million passengers set in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic.'

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MSP also noted that airlines served 156 nonstop destinations from the North Star State in 2023, up from 145 destinations in 2022. And, of course, MSP also noted that it was once again named the best airport in North America for the third year in a row, and for the seventh time in the last eight years.

READ MORE: Delta Air Lines Just Raised This Fee Again in Minnesota

And now we know just which airlines served the most passengers in 2023 at MSP. While you're likely familiar with several big airlines, did you know that 18 different airlines fly in and out of MSP in Bloomington? Take a look at this list:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Canada
• AirFrance
• Alaska Airlines
• Allegiant Airlines
• American Airlines
• Condor Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Denver Air
• Frontier Airlines
• Icelandair
• JetBlue Airlines
• KLM Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• Sun Country Airlines
• United Airlines
• WestJet

So which airline served the most passengers at MSP in 2023? I correctly guessed the first two airlines, but the percentage of total MSP passengers was a little surprising to me. Take a look at the list, courtesy of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal (MSPBJ):

BUSIEST AIRLINES SERVING MSP IN 2023

1. Delta Air Lines - 20,254,475 passengers (68.13%)
2. Sun Country Airlines - 3,812,350 passengers (12.82%)
3. Southwest Airlines - 1,656,549 passengers (5.57%)
4. United Airlines - 1,418703 passengers (4.77%)
5. American Airlines - 1,179,082 passengers (3.97%)

The other 13 airlines combined served just over 1.55 million passengers in 2023, which is about 4.74 percent of all passengers served at MSP last year, MSPBJ noted. 

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