[4:32] >> All I have is my credibility.

[4:33] When it comes to ice cometh the strategy of letting activists do

[4:37] the talking, while Mac remains silent cannot continue.

[4:42] The airport doesn't need to express an opinion they just

[4:45] need to acknowledge reality.

[4:47] Today that means talking about how

[4:50] Ice is detaining people on jet as they board their flights even

[4:53] when traveling domestically.

[4:54] Many Minnesotans will immediately dismiss concerns

[4:58] when they're coming from the union or some heavy set hippie,

[5:01] your continued silence is harming the state

[5:03] that you are supposed to be serving.

[5:05] The voice of the airport needs to do more than tell people

[5:08] to call police when they can't do anything or defer comment

[5:10] to the feds.

[5:11] We have been coming here asking for you to do better for months.

[5:15] Tomorrow will observe the 5,000th person getting flown

[5:20] away from their homes by ice here at MSP.

[5:24] Including your workers.

[5:26] Including Minnesota's children.

[5:28] When will it be enough for you to speak?

[5:31] I continue to be impressed every time

[5:34] I interact with the staff and the workers here.

[5:36] They are proactive common courteous common many

[5:38] have privately offered praise and support for my remarks here.

[5:41] If there are any continued hard feelings about tone or disunity,

[5:45] I suggest the problem is coming from that end of the room,

[5:48] and not this side of the podium.

[5:50] Once again to be clear I'm not blaming the commission for Ice

[5:53] activity, I'm asking for transparency and accountability

[5:55] for your workers, for the traveling public, the commitment

[5:59] for acknowledging the truth.

[6:02] Max values are to take ownership, treat

[6:04] each other well, act with integrity,

[6:06] and continuously improve.

[6:09] It's time to start doing your job.

[6:11] Thank you.

[6:13] >> Thank you.

[6:14] Is there anyone else who would like to take this opportunity

[6:18] to speak before the commission?

[6:21] Hearing none, we go through to item 1.5,

[6:26] and I call on Naomi to come forward.

[6:31] Thank you.

[7:07] >> Who am I?

[7:08] Where am I?

[7:08] Okay thank you.

[7:10] Well, good afternoon Chair Lawrence and Commissioners.

[7:15] I'm Naomi Pesky the vice president of strategy

[7:18] and stakeholder engagement.

[7:20] And I am very pleased to be here to share that the Mac has

[7:28] recently earned two honors from the Minnesota Association

[7:32] of Government Communicators.

[7:35] Through its Northern Lights Awards program.

[7:38] This is a long standing program that

[7:42] recognizes outstanding work and Minnesota's government,

[7:46] educational, and nonprofit communications.

[7:49] Entries are judged by government communicators in North Carolina.

[7:53] To remove any local bias.

[7:56] The two awards that we are sharing today

[7:59] demonstrate the excellence of the Mac's

[8:01] internal and external communications, led

[8:04] by our strategic Marketing and Communication

[8:08] Department in partnership with stakeholders across the Mac.

[8:11] Here are the 2026 award winning projects.

[8:17] Okay.

[8:18] So, the first one is for the MSP Airport threads account.

[8:25] For this, we won the Northern Lights Award

[8:27] which is the name of the first place award.

[8:30] It is in the social media engagement

[8:32] category for large entities.

[8:34] This category recognizes documented successes

[8:38] in building community engagement and social media.

[8:42] Threads is a meta platform where posts are text first rather than

[8:46] image first.

[8:48] Threads launched three years ago and has already

[8:52] grown past 500 million monthly users on that platform.

[8:56] Which is on par with X. Our digital marketing manager

[9:01] Isaac Rossouw, Where is Isaac?

[9:05] Hi Isaac!

[9:06] In partnership with the full strategic marketing

[9:10] and communications team launched the MSP Airport Threads account

[9:14] in 2025.

[9:16] On threads, a distinct voice is what stands out.

[9:19] And, in the past year a team has built a following

[9:23] based on local humor and airport personality.

[9:27] Such as focusing on Minnesota things like hot dish,

[9:32] duck duck gray duck, keeping MSP and travel top of mind

[9:37] for our local followers -- you can see a clip post gives some

[9:42] taste for some of the local humor and airport personality.

[9:46] The approach has been successful,

[9:48] Mac has been able to nearly double the account's followers

[9:52] without any paid media spend which

[9:54] is increasingly very challenging in today's social media

[9:57] landscape.

[9:58] And users engage with posts through likes, comments,

[10:01] and shares, 10,000 times.

[10:03] Our posts have earned over 200,000 impressions.

[10:08] The second award is for a Silver award,

[10:14] our second place in the agency Event program or service video

[10:17] category.

[10:18] This category recognizes videos that educates or informs

[10:23] audiences about an initiative.

[10:25] In December, the video making Triazole

[10:28] was the first story in a new video

[10:30] series called Mac Spotlight.

[10:31] The series is primarily designed as an internal communication

[10:35] strategy to engage and inform Mac employees

[10:38] about the people, places, and work across our organization.

[10:43] However, there are some installments

[10:44] such as this one which are also relevant

[10:47] for our external audiences.

[10:49] It provides an authentic social media content

[10:52] to strengthen engagement and support

[10:54] external brand recognition of the Mac's owner and operator

[10:58] MSP.

[10:58] The Spotlight series is produced by Manager of Strategic

[11:02] Communications Jeff Lee.

[11:05] In partnership with the Marketing Communications

[11:09] Department and subject matter experts across the Mac.

[11:13] For the first installment the key stakeholder group

[11:15] that he partnered with was Airport Development.

[11:18] This video takes viewers behind the scenes of a major component

[11:22] to the recently completed airport modernization program

[11:26] that resulted in the largest interior makeover of Msp's

[11:30] terminal one.

[11:31] Since it opened in 1962.

[11:33] The video showcases the skilled craftsmanship behind Terrazzo

[11:37] flooring and how these improvements enhance

[11:40] the passenger experience.

[11:42] I would like to show you a 62nd clip of the original three

[11:47] minute long video so that you can get a taste of what this

[11:51] great video does.

[12:08] I'm not sure why that's not working.

[14:18] Have MCs here for wheelchair pushers, for folks with bags

[14:23] >> After 17 years the custom fields are brown gray and beige

[14:26] have been flipped for harder shinier Terrazzo.

[14:30] >> It lasts a very long time, it's got an ROI of over 25

[14:33] years, makes more sense comments cheaper to clean,

[14:36] it's easier for wheelchair pushers, for folks with bags.

[14:41] >> Berkshire bays coastal fog and Sleigh bells.

[14:45] >> On this night Terrazzo finisher Randy Larson and team

[14:48] helped to create the white mix.

[14:49] A recipe of marble, and seashell chips.

[14:53] At the poor sight there's no grand machine laying down

[14:56] the floor on the g c SkyBridge.

[14:59] Just the well experienced hands of two Terrazzo craftsmen.

[15:05] In a decade's time MSP will have gained

[15:09] the equivalent of nine football fields of Terrazzo.

[15:11] Making travel seamlessly smoother

[15:15] while providing a unique canvas of art underfoot.

[15:18] Pointing travelers away and home again

[15:20] and reflecting the changing times and shadows

[15:23] of an airport in motion.

[15:25] For Max spotlight, Jeff Lee.

[15:31] >> Thank you Brad for your help.

[15:34] So, I will just wrap up, I'm not going to pull open

[15:39] another presentation.

[15:40] But I will just close with sharing

[15:43] that we are we were two of nearly 200 entries

[15:49] that were submitted for consideration for this year's

[15:53] awards.

[15:53] And the categories were many.

[15:56] We competed against other large scale government entities,

[15:59] several State Department Metro Transit Metro area

[16:02] counties and cities with robust communication programs as well.

[16:06] And I'm really proud of the team the awards recognize

[16:10] the quality of our communications

[16:11] and the demonstrated success.

[16:13] Not only reaching but truly engaging.

[16:16] Our target audiences are both internal and external

[16:18] so I want to congratulate our talented strategic marketing

[16:21] and communications team members whose work

[16:23] continues to elevate the Mac's purpose, share our story,

[16:26] and extend the MSP brand across digital channels.

[16:29] And thank you to all of our stakeholders

[16:32] who enable us to have great work to amplify and enable us

[16:35] to do great work together.

[16:37] And who are always there to help us out.

[16:40] Right Brad?

[16:41] Okay.

[16:42] So, I will close with that, and if anybody

[16:46] has any questions or anything they want to share,

[16:49] I can stand for that.

[16:52] >> Any questions?

[16:53] Comments?

[16:54] Congratulations to you and the team.

[16:56] For those awards.

[16:58] I think next up is Angela and Ross.

[17:18] >> Good afternoon Chair Lawrence and commissioners I'm Angela

[17:21] Enright the senior project manager with Mac airport

[17:25] development and I'm here to announce that the terminal one

[17:27] operational improvements project won a finance and Commerce Top

[17:32] Project award for 2025.

[17:35] So this was for our entire operational improvements program

[17:40] over the last ten years.

[17:43] So, the project was honored for this year

[17:47] for its degree of difficulty, creativity and design,

[17:50] innovative construction techniques, cooperation

[17:53] among contractors and management,

[17:56] and sustainability efforts that were

[17:58] woven through the effort making it not only transformative,

[18:02] but responsible.

[18:04] So operational improvements was a ten year $600 million

[18:08] renovation, of the entire front of house at terminal one.

[18:12] That originally opened in 1962.

[18:15] And, the project encompassed 730,000ft².

[18:18] Of space to be remodeled including about a 1600

[18:24] zero square foot new addition on the front portion

[18:27] of the terminal.

[18:29] So nearly every part of the passenger journey

[18:31] was touched from curbside arrival and ticketing

[18:34] to baggage baggage claim.

[18:36] So, remarkably all of this was completed while maintaining full

[18:40] 24/7 airport operations for the entire decade that the project

[18:45] was under construction.

[18:47] So, I want to sincerely acknowledge

[18:51] our design team and the contractors,

[18:53] our Mac stakeholders and tenants, and the airlines

[18:56] for their unwavering dedication and teamwork to the project, as

[19:01] well as our commissioners.

[19:03] Thank you for your steadfast support

[19:04] throughout this project's long and ambitious journey.

[19:08] So come on this project wasn't just a renovation,

[19:11] it was a decades long commitment to shaping

[19:14] the future for our travelers and passengers.

[19:17] So, thank you for being part of that journey for us.

[19:21] We accepted the award in July excuse me August.

[19:26] And this is just a small portion of our design team.

[19:29] So there were dozens if not hundreds

[19:31] of people involved from the design team and contractor side.

[19:34] So it was very nice to be honored with that award.

[19:41] >> Well deserved and congratulations from me

[19:43] and I'm sure all the other commissioners.

[19:45] Does anybody have a question?

[19:46] Comment?

[19:47] Thank you very much.

[19:50] >> Thank you.

[19:51] >> Now turning back to the agenda,

[19:52] we have had some people arrive a bit late.

[19:57] Who did want to speak in the public comment.

[20:02] I hope I pronounced the name right.?

[20:09] Please join us.

[20:10] Thank you.

[20:23] And I'm sorry hello everybody my name is --

[20:29] I'm here I drive Uber and Lyft, I'm also organized with SRU.

[20:39] Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

[20:43] I'm here to speak support for the proposal (Indiscernible)

[21:00] We have running water improvement with a new facility

[21:08] will be a big improvement from that.

[21:11] We are also grateful to have we now

[21:15] have a regular communication with airport

[21:18] staff and the drivers union.

[21:21] It is good to work together.

[21:23] As we are working and we plan to improve conditions for drivers,

[21:28] we ask that we involve us in the plan process.

[21:36] And we will then be waiting for a long time.

[21:44] We'll need the break area doesn't shelter from the area.

[21:51] It takes care of the customers here at MSB.

[21:55] We need dignity, and a facility like all other workers.

[22:01] We want to make the airport safe and a welcome place

[22:06] for everyone.

[22:06] And thank you so much.

[22:11] >> Thank you.

[22:14] There's one other.

[22:24] So, Sean Smith Atkins?

[22:33] >> Sharon Smith Atkinson.

[22:34] >> Please come forward.

[22:37] >> Is this where we go?

[22:38] This is my first time.

[22:39] Good afternoon everybody.

[22:41] I've got my notes so I can be concise.

[22:44] Good afternoon everybody my name is Sharon Smith Atkinson

[22:48] I represent the Ray McKenzie Group

[22:49] and I'm here today on behalf of our hometown icons.

[22:53] Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

[22:55] You may know that they are coming home to the State Fair

[22:58] on August 29th for a celebration of the Minneapolis Sound.

[23:02] They are bringing so many amazing artists with them,

[23:06] it will be three hours of 50 to 60 hits, all made in Minnesota.

[23:12] They were born and raised in Minnesota,

[23:14] and we all know that we have the same goal of making sure

[23:18] that we are doing tourism, we want

[23:20] people to say amazing things about our city, amazing things

[23:23] about our airport.

[23:25] So I thought, since I was the one well it took seven years

[23:30] but I was the one that put the mural up in downtown Minneapolis

[23:32] for Prince, I just want to make sure that we don't forget.

[23:36] That we have some awesome arts and culture and celebrities here

[23:40] that love us.

[23:41] And I just want to make sure that we treat them

[23:44] and welcome them with respect that they deserve.

[23:47] So, what I would like to do is simply

[23:50] request an LED sign that says when they come home

[23:56] welcome home Jimmy and Jerry.

[23:58] They're also bringing 12 or 13 artists,

[24:01] and I would like to request some gate access.

[24:04] So in other words we have amazing carts,

[24:08] maybe we can pick them up and drop them to baggage claim.

[24:12] That's my ask.

[24:13] What can we do to say welcome home Jimmy and Jerry?

[24:18] And because of everything that they're doing at the State Fair

[24:21] our great Minnesota get together was made in Minnesota.

[24:25] That's my ask.

[24:27] So I would like to just make Minneapolis Saint Paul Airport

[24:31] the beginning of their welcome.

[24:37] >> Thank you very much.

[24:38] >> You're welcome.

[24:39] >> The purpose of public comment is for people to share

[24:41] their thoughts with the Commission,

[24:43] it's a listen only mode.

[24:46] When the CEO gets to his part, perhaps he

[24:51] will want to say something.

[24:53] But thank you very much for joining us today.

[24:57] >> Thank you for having me.

[24:59] >> You're welcome.

[24:59] Okay we have no items either under public presentations

[25:02] or hearings.

[25:03] And I would invite the representative of the Met

[25:07] Council and MnDOT to speak if they were here but they're not.

[25:11] So we're going to move into the consent agenda.

[25:14] The way I'm going to do it, is we

[25:16] are going to work our way through this bit by bit.

[25:20] And if any commissioner has a comment or question,

[25:24] and we'll take it up.

[25:26] If not we'll just keep moving through

[25:29] and there will be a single vote at the end

[25:34] if the commission so wishes to approve the consent agenda.

[25:40] So the first items are approval of the minutes

[25:43] of the full commission.

[25:45] And there are reports and there are lease actions.

[25:52] So that's at the full commission level.

[25:55] I will pause there.

[25:57] Any comments?

[25:58] Questions?

[25:59] Hearing none.

[26:00] We will go on to the committees.

[26:02] We will begin with planning, development, environment

[26:06] Committee.

[26:08] Which Chair Ginsburg leads.

[26:13] And there's nothing much in open forum.

[26:18] Its own consent report, they had both changed management

[26:25] and authorizations and so forth.

[26:29] Bids received, purchase approvals

[26:33] and I'm going to pause there.

[26:37] Any questions or comments?

[26:39] Anything from the chair?

[26:41] Okay.

[26:42] Very important point is the business items.

[26:47] And we already heard earlier about item 3.4.

[26:54] The capital Improvement program amendment.

[26:57] Which I think that the community felt.

[26:59] We had made very good progress as an airport,

[27:06] and we're showing what it means to be proper Minnesotans

[27:12] and how we have handled that.

[27:14] And I want to just thank the Chair for leading

[27:18] that effort for the Commission.

[27:20] I want to thank Brian and your team for that.

[27:24] So, I've made my comments on the business

[27:28] items, any other comments?

[27:30] Rich?

[27:32] >> Real quick on 3.4, I want to thank the chairs lead Brian

[27:37] and staff and working with the drivers to get to a very solid

[27:43] resolution that took a lot of time and effort.

[27:46] So, thank you.

[27:53] Thank you.

[27:54] Anyone else?

[27:55] Okay then we'll move on to O FNA and we

[27:58] will begin with any questions from the open forum.

[28:06] From the consent agenda.

[28:12] From the business items?

[28:16] I think one important one was 3.5 policy 2801 the Consultant

[28:23] Policy.

[28:24] This one which the committee and the commissioners

[28:29] wrestled with, I think they have come to very good conclusion.

[28:38] The version, which is in the papers for the meeting today

[28:43] is the final version.

[28:46] And I would then ask is there any questions?

[28:50] Otherwise, hearing none, I'm going

[28:53] to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda.

[28:59] >> Moved,

[29:00] >> Second.

[29:01] >> The motion has been moved and seconded.

[29:03] Can we do a roll call?

[29:05] Okay.

[29:08] [Members voting]

[29:29] >> Thank you all ladies and gentlemen.

[29:31] There are no business items today.

[29:32] But, we have a couple of very interesting and important

[29:37] information items.

[29:38] And we will begin with the airline industry

[29:42] and MSP air service update presentation.

[29:47] Welcome.

[29:51] >> Thank you chair Lawrence good afternoon commissioners

[29:53] I'm Brian Peters director of Air service development for the Mac,

[29:56] and I'm happy to be here today to introduce our consulting team

[29:59] from Asian Pacific Consulting Brad Furey and Oliver Lam who

[30:04] will provide their annual update.

[30:06] For new commissioners this is an update

[30:08] they provide about once a year around this time of year.

[30:11] Brad and Ali founded a consulting in 2009

[30:16] currently lead a team of about 14 professionals

[30:18] that provide air service development

[30:21] consulting for both airports and communities.

[30:23] About 40 of them throughout the United States, Canada,

[30:27] Australia, and I think New Zealand even.

[30:30] So, with that I will hand it over to Ali,

[30:32] and he will get going and we would

[30:34] be happy to answer any questions that you may have

[30:36] throughout the presentation.

[30:43] Thank you Brian, Commissioner Lawrence and commissioners

[30:47] thank you for having us here today.

[30:49] It's always an honor to talk about this community.

[30:53] What we're going to do today is we're

[30:56] going to talk through four big areas of discussion.

[30:58] First of all we're going to have a look at what

[31:00] has happened in terms of our air service capacity

[31:02] over the last 12 months, and put that into broader context.

[31:06] And then Brad's going to talk to you

[31:07] about what's happening in the broader industry

[31:09] and how that affects us here in Minneapolis Saint Paul.

[31:12] Then we are going to talk about our two wonderful hub carriers

[31:15] at Hub Minneapolis and Saint Paul and what they're doing

[31:18] and how they're evolving and how that's changing on the story.

[31:20] And then finally I'm going to close off and talk to you

[31:22] a little bit about the international trends

[31:24] that we are seeing both nationwide and here

[31:26] in Minneapolis Saint Paul.

[31:27] And hopefully that will leave us with enough time

[31:30] to get into some juicy questions at the end.

[31:36] Excellent.

[31:36] So what I'd like to start with is

[31:40] to talk about what we've seen within the last 12 months

[31:42] in terms of air service capacity.

[31:44] What you can see on this chart is the comparison

[31:47] of air service capacity for the last 12 months

[31:49] versus the previous 12 months.

[31:51] And this shows the whole calendar year of 2026

[31:53] versus 2025.

[31:54] We have highlighted in blue, the Midwest hub airports,

[31:58] and you can see there that Minneapolis Saint

[32:00] Paul is sitting about 99.4% of 2025 capacity.

[32:05] So 0.6% below where we were at in 2025.

[32:10] You compare that to the right hand side

[32:13] you can see that Detroit is sitting about 3 or 3.5%

[32:16] below where it was in 2025.

[32:17] And at the other end of the scale

[32:19] you can see Chicago O'hare sitting at about 12%

[32:22] above where it was in 2025.

[32:24] The unique thing about what we are

[32:26] seeing with the two airports that

[32:28] are sitting in the far left hand side of this chart, Chicago,

[32:30] O'hare, and San Diego, they are in the middle of a hub battle

[32:34] between two airlines right now.

[32:36] And that's meaning that we are seeing in Chicago

[32:38] a record amount of growth from American Airlines in the United

[32:41] Airlines as they battle it out in Chicago.

[32:44] By contrast coming here in Minneapolis Saint Paul

[32:47] we are seeing a pretty flat 2025 to 2026.

[32:52] Let's dig a little deeper in terms of why that's happening.

[32:56] Why are we seeing the flat trajectory

[32:58] between 2025 and 2026?

[33:00] On this slide we've broken it down

[33:02] by airline to show you what's happened

[33:04] at each of these airlines because they

[33:05] are various stories going on.

[33:07] On the far left hand side of this chart you can see

[33:14] the United's added over 100 thousand seats frontier has

[33:20] added 76,000 seats all up nearly 300,000 seats being added

[33:25] in the Minneapolis Saint Paul Market.

[33:27] On the right hand side you can see our biggest losers.

[33:30] In red you can see for instance spirit which has pulled out

[33:32] of not only Minneapolis Saint Paul but every market

[33:34] in the country.

[33:35] Spirit has gone bankrupt.

[33:36] So it no longer operates anywhere

[33:38] in the United States or anywhere in the world I should say.

[33:41] You can also see sun country sun country reduced its capacity

[33:45] here in Saint Paul by 176,000 seats and Brad will talk about

[33:48] in more detail about what's happening in that space and what

[33:50] we can expect going forward.

[33:52] But you can see within that headline

[33:55] story we are 0.6% below where we were in 2025.

[33:58] There is a variety of different stories

[34:00] depending on which airline you're talking about that

[34:02] are going on beneath the surface.

[34:03] And I would like you to remember the story

[34:05] that we are seeing in 2026.

[34:06] You can see Delta growing in some sun country contracting

[34:10] because we will come back to that story later on.

[34:13] And if we have a look a bit broader

[34:16] and we look at a longer time period,

[34:18] and we go back to pre-pandemic and where we were at

[34:22] pre-pandemic, you can see here that the story is a little bit

[34:25] different again.

[34:26] Again are three Midwest hub is highlighted in blue.

[34:28] You can see Minneapolis Saint Paul sitting

[34:30] at 93% of where it was at in 2019, Detroit sitting about 19%

[34:34] of where it was in 2019, and Chicago O'hare

[34:37] which was until this year sitting line ball with us

[34:40] in terms of growth has now grown by 12% thanks to that battle

[34:45] that we are seeing in Chicago O'hare.

[34:48] So you can see there's still room

[34:49] to grow in terms of where we were at pre-pandemic to where

[34:52] we are at today.

[34:53] But again, beneath this story lies a really interesting story

[34:56] between the different airlines.

[34:57] So if you remember two slides ago

[34:59] I showed you that Sun Country had actually contracted

[35:02] over the last 12 months.

[35:03] When we cast a wider view, since before the pandemic,

[35:07] Sun Country has actually been the biggest contributor

[35:10] to growth of any airline compared

[35:13] to the pre-pandemic period.

[35:15] By contrast, you can see excluding

[35:17] spirit which has exited the market,

[35:20] Delta still hasn't recovered in Minneapolis Saint Paul

[35:22] so even though they are one of the fastest growing airlines

[35:25] over the last 12 months, which is a really positive trend as we

[35:28] look forward, they still haven't recovered to where they were at

[35:31] pre-pandemic.

[35:32] So the story does look different when we look at different time

[35:35] scales in this regard.

[35:37] On this slide I'd like to talk a little bit about what

[35:40] makes this really unique compared

[35:41] to some of those other hubs that we are talking about.

[35:44] This chart shows the proportion of seats

[35:47] that are operated by the largest carrier in each of these hub

[35:52] markets.

[35:52] As you can see in the far left end of this chart

[35:55] you can see the hubs that are most dominated by one carrier.

[35:58] Taking Charlotte at the very far extreme

[36:00] to the left more than two thirds of it capacity

[36:03] is provided by one American airline.

[36:09] The shortest column shows the second largest carrier

[36:13] in these markets.

[36:13] What's really unique about Minneapolis-Saint Paul

[36:16] and something that is a huge strength to this market

[36:18] is that our number two carrier is proportionately stronger

[36:22] than any of those other hubs to the left of us.

[36:25] So those hubs which are dominated

[36:26] by really strong number one carrier,

[36:28] and we do have a very strong number one carrier in fact

[36:31] it's the strongest number one financially in the industry,

[36:35] it's also supported by a very strong number two in sun Country

[36:39] that makes us unique and it's one of the key strengths

[36:41] that Minneapolis-Saint Paul has.

[36:43] And it's one of those charts that I showed you

[36:45] before when Delta was growing Sun Country was contracting when

[36:48] Sun Country was growing Delta was contracting, that strength

[36:51] and diversification allows us to be really

[36:54] strong hub in the Midwest.

[36:55] And we've had some really good news this year.

[36:59] This is a beautiful picture of our newest destination

[37:01] that all of you will be able to fly to this winter.

[37:03] Maui, which will now be a nonstop destination out

[37:06] of Minneapolis Saint Paul which is a fantastic

[37:08] addition to our network, even though it's

[37:17] a domestic destination for all intents and purposes it is

[37:21] an international because it uses an international aircraft,

[37:25] it's going to be flying nonstop to Maui.

[37:28] So at the end of this year we're going

[37:29] to have 167 nonstop destinations.

[37:33] Nearly closing in on our target of 170 destinations by 2027.

[37:37] It'll be a race to the finish line to get to that 170

[37:40] but you can see here, we are really

[37:43] closing in on that target with some really exciting wins

[37:45] and we hope that by this time next year we

[37:48] can report some exciting wins.

[37:49] With that I'm going to hand it over to Brad.

[37:52] >> Thanks.

[37:53] So this year we want to talk a little bit more

[37:55] about the industry in general, and what's going on.

[37:58] Because what's happening externally from MSP

[38:01] impacts MSP tremendously.

[38:02] What we've seen over the last several years

[38:05] is that the network carriers are driving all of the industry

[38:08] profitability.

[38:09] And that profitability is specifically

[38:12] being driven by two carriers.

[38:13] Delta and United.

[38:15] If you look at this waterfall chart you see that $46 billion

[38:19] of industry profits were made by Delta and United

[38:23] out of a total of nearly 45.5 billion total.

[38:27] Everybody else basically has netted out negatively.

[38:30] There's a few carriers who are making money including Allegiant

[38:33] and Sun Country.

[38:34] But by the time you net it all out,

[38:37] American and Delta basically account

[38:39] for all of the industry's profits

[38:40] over the last several years.

[38:42] So why is that?

[38:44] What's happened in the low fare category that's caused

[38:47] those carriers to underperform?

[38:49] Let me go back real quick.

[38:50] All the carriers that are in green

[38:52] would be classified as low fare carriers.

[38:54] Three of those are negative, we know

[38:56] spirit went out of business, Jetblue

[38:57] is suffering tremendously Jetblue has been suffering

[39:00] tremendously, the only profitable carriers

[39:04] were Allegiant and Sun Country.

[39:06] So what happened here?

[39:07] If you look at the last ten years

[39:08] you'll see that real GDP grew 126%,

[39:10] but low fare capacity by those types of carriers grew 136%.

[39:14] So they outgrew the economy.

[39:17] They got real real aggressive on growth.

[39:19] They put a lot of seats in the market

[39:21] and they outgrew the demand.

[39:24] Meanwhile the network carriers were much more conservative

[39:28] Pierce the network carriers have managed their capacity

[39:30] to demand much better.

[39:32] And how does that translate into the real world?

[39:35] You see here the green are the average domestic one way

[39:39] fare for a low fare carrier.

[39:41] In 2025 $74.

[39:43] This was pre taxed one way.

[39:46] The average was 188 in the network

[39:48] carriers were getting 229.

[39:50] Well a low fare carrier it should

[39:52] have low fares that's great at 60 to 65% lower

[39:55] than the network carriers.

[39:57] The problem here is that with those lower fares

[40:00] they were able to achieve a really strong position

[40:04] in the market.

[40:05] They grew to be 12% of the industry.

[40:07] Today they are down to nine.

[40:09] And that's partly spirit going out,

[40:11] it's partly frontier scaling back.

[40:14] But overall, that segment is shrinking.

[40:17] And the reason it's shrinking is basically network carriers

[40:20] won the battle.

[40:23] If you look at what happened with the Ulcc,

[40:25] the ultra low cost carrier model,

[40:27] you see the competitive changes on the left.

[40:29] This is where network carriers discovered they could

[40:32] offer a basic economy fare.

[40:35] Basically the same fare that you would get on a frontier spirit

[40:45] you get the quality of service associated with that.

[40:48] So people started voting, you get

[40:50] the same fare are you going to get fly spirit or Delta.

[40:53] So that started to happen.

[40:54] Also the network carriers brand won out

[40:56] they started bundling packages together

[40:58] they just offered a better product with more choices.

[41:00] You have a lot more options when you fly a network carrier

[41:03] than you do a low fare carrier.

[41:06] We also saw the impact of the carrier economy

[41:09] where the top part of the economy we're

[41:13] doing better than people are in the lower ends

[41:16] people who had been flying couldn't

[41:19] afford to fly how they did in the first few years out

[41:22] of the pandemic.

[41:22] And I already mentioned the fact that the low fare carriers

[41:25] Overexpanded.

[41:25] At the same time this was happening

[41:28] they were losing on the revenue side

[41:30] with the competitive changes.

[41:31] At the same time their costs were converging.

[41:35] They had aging fleets that needed more maintenance.

[41:37] The honeymoon of having brand new airplanes you all

[41:40] know that when your warranty runs out

[41:41] on your new car that's basically what was happening here.

[41:44] At the same time, their pilots and flight attendants

[41:48] fly the same airplanes, they want the same wages.

[41:51] It's a competitive labor market.

[41:57] All of a sudden their pilots are getting paid the same or roughly

[42:00] the same as the network carriers.

[42:02] There was some issues with engine durability

[42:05] that I won't get into.

[42:06] But basically what you can see the cost advantage that low fare

[42:10] carriers had has dissipated.

[42:11] They still have one.

[42:13] But it's not as big as it used to be.

[42:16] In the meantime the network carriers

[42:18] have a lot more opportunity to generate more revenue.

[42:21] So the equation just changed.

[42:23] Now network carriers hold a very strong advantage.

[42:26] And we see where consolidation has happened.

[42:29] The biggest consolidation move in the industry

[42:31] in the last few years is happening right here.

[42:34] With allegiance acquisition of Sun Country.

[42:36] And you can see the 72 there sun country over there was

[42:42] responsible for 12,000 seats a day,

[42:47] you add that into the Allegiant thing you're at 74,000 seats

[42:51] but you can still see the scale of those low fare carriers.

[42:55] Spirit is out come everybody else is

[42:57] a bit player you've got frontier and Jetblue, they are bigger.

[43:01] But they're not that big.

[43:02] So you really see this consolidation.

[43:04] We consider southwest to be a network carrier now

[43:07] comet's repositioning itself to be more similar to the big three

[43:11] than a low cost carrier anymore.

[43:12] So you can really see how the network carriers have basically

[43:17] won this battle.

[43:19] So how does that impact us here?

[43:22] Fortunately at MSP, not all low fare carriers are created equal.

[43:25] In the two best as I mentioned the profitability last year

[43:28] they were the only profitable low fare carriers,

[43:31] this past quarter Allegiant, which

[43:34] has the sun country numbers built into it now,

[43:38] because they are one company, was the most profitable airline

[43:42] in the margin basis in the country.

[43:44] Just slightly beating Delta.

[43:45] So we've got a good base here.

[43:47] And the reason that that's important

[43:50] is Sun Country had a limited opportunity to grow

[43:53] and you have to grow in the industry

[43:55] to keep your costs in check.

[43:57] Sun Country was painted into a corner

[44:01] more or less in terms of what it could do.

[44:03] So what it did, as it put itself up for sale basically.

[44:06] In the one airline that is the best match for Sun

[44:09] Country is the one that bought it.

[44:11] So now you have two airlines that have very similar business

[44:14] model.

[44:15] Really the only difference is the philosophy of the routes

[44:19] that they fly in that all of Sun Country's routes

[44:22] were originating here, going south.

[44:24] Whereas most of the allegiant's routes were south going north.

[44:27] From smaller markets.

[44:29] But overall, a very complimentary marriage.

[44:35] And he said this several times publicly,

[44:38] but it's really important to reiterate.

[44:40] Without MSP, sun country was not relevant to Allegiant.

[44:44] The reason that they were buying MSP or buying

[44:47] Sun Country in the first place was

[44:48] to get access to this market.

[44:50] It's not for the charter program,

[44:51] it's not for their Amazon contract,

[44:53] they could get that on their own if they wanted it.

[44:55] Allegiant is a very very focused carrier,

[44:58] they are very successful.

[44:59] They wanted MSP for the Twin Cities market.

[45:03] And that's important to understand,

[45:05] they're not going to give it up just because there's

[45:07] been a merger.

[45:08] That's why they bought it in the first place.

[45:10] And if you look at MSP today is the largest station

[45:13] in the combined airline's network.

[45:15] The rest of them are all Florida and Arizona basically Las Vegas.

[45:20] Those are all destination markets.

[45:22] Even though MSP is a very different kind

[45:24] of market, the customer, the passenger

[45:27] is the same kind of passenger.

[45:29] The passenger that sun country flies out of here

[45:32] is the same kind of person that Allegiant

[45:35] is flying in its network.

[45:37] You're going on vacation come you're going for a long weekend

[45:40] someplace, for a bachelorette party

[45:42] or, you're going down to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Florida.

[45:46] Whatever it is, it's a very similar customer.

[45:49] So that's a good combination, but MSP

[45:52] will be the biggest airport in the system probably

[45:55] for the foreseeable future.

[45:57] Moving on to Delta Delta is growing in MSP slowly,

[46:01] but its current focus is not here.

[46:04] They still remain the second largest hub,

[46:06] growing slightly just 0.5%.

[46:10] It's important here to note, that the hubs

[46:14] in red, Minneapolis, Detroit, Atlanta, and Salt Lake

[46:18] are referred to as the core hubs.

[46:19] All of the other hubs are coastal hubs and that's probably

[46:23] pretty self-explanatory.

[46:24] But this is where their hubs are and where they are investing.

[46:28] And we will get into a little bit of why

[46:30] that's important in a minute.

[46:31] Oh, here it is right here.

[46:32] So, delta has spent the last several years

[46:36] investing in what some people call once in a lifetime

[46:38] opportunity spirit with all of the things that are shaking out

[46:40] in the industry, Delta has an opportunity

[46:43] because of its strength to go into these very very constrained

[46:47] markets in the Northeast and the Pacific coast

[46:51] and carve out real estate.

[46:54] And to make a claim for longer term presence in those markets.

[46:59] And they've done that by adding a lot of capacity

[47:01] and investing a lot in facilities in the coast.

[47:04] There is a limited opportunity for them to do that.

[47:07] These airports are filling up some of them are full today

[47:10] and there's not new growth happening anytime soon at most

[47:13] of these airports.

[47:14] So it's sort of a land grab if you

[47:15] want to think of it that way.

[47:16] In the meantime, the core hubs have not

[47:19] been invested in, primarily because it

[47:22] isn't as important right now.

[47:24] They can come back to all of the core hubs at any point.

[47:27] There's not a significant competitive pressure

[47:30] that's requiring them to attend to them today.

[47:33] So they are investing in those coastal hubs

[47:36] while they can to set themselves up for success in the long run.

[47:42] You can look at year over year the growth

[47:46] has been primarily in the coastal hubs.

[47:48] But like I said, those hubs are reaching their capacity limits

[47:51] there's not a lot of growth at JFK or Laguardia

[47:53] up here at Once that's complete they'll have to return growth

[48:07] to the core hubs.

[48:08] Which by the way, finance the growth in the coastal hubs.

[48:15] Stepping back and just taking a look at where they are today,

[48:18] MSP is the third largest originating market for Delta,

[48:22] these are passages not connecting here.

[48:26] But passengers who live here or who

[48:28] are traveling to the Twin Cities it's the third largest hub here

[48:31] it was at 0.2 million to 11.1 million,

[48:35] while connections were down just a little bit from 10.5 to 10.3

[48:39] million but it's still the second largest connecting hub

[48:41] as well in the network.

[48:43] We know in the past there has been concern

[48:48] about the ratio of local versus connecting passengers,

[48:52] and we've seen that, we talked about this last year.

[48:55] Last year it was 49% connecting.

[48:56] Off of a base a decade ago of about 60%.

[49:01] It went down just a little bit one

[49:03] more percentage point this last year.

[49:04] But you'll note, it's very similar between to Detroit

[49:08] and Salt Lake which are the two hubs that

[49:10] are closest in size for Delta.

[49:12] Very similar situation.

[49:14] We've seen that not just with Delta but most

[49:17] of the other airline hubs.

[49:18] The major hubs have all pretty much

[49:21] seen a declining share of connecting traffic over time.

[49:23] That's partly due to the fact that there's not

[49:26] a lot of nonstop service available on couriers

[49:28] like Allegiant.

[49:29] So people who used to fly out of Duluth going to Florida,

[49:33] over MSP, a lot of them are flying nonstop now.

[49:37] This isn't a bad thing.

[49:38] Delta is doing great here so it's not a bad thing,

[49:41] it's just how the traffic has balanced.

[49:44] And we will note that this year MSP will be the ninth busiest

[49:48] connecting hub in the country.

[49:49] Which when you consider that MSP is the 22nd largest owned

[49:53] market, demand market basically and the 16th largest MSA is

[49:58] still very very well positioned for the long run we don't see

[50:03] any particular challenges to that.

[50:07] >> Things give the guy with the accent the international markets

[50:10] to deal with.

[50:11] Perfect.

[50:11] Awesome.

[50:11] So I'm going to talk to you a little bit about what

[50:14] we are seeing in terms of an international context

[50:16] because I think it's really important that we focus

[50:18] on this because it's going to inform some of the conversations

[50:20] that we will be having with you over the next 12 months

[50:23] in terms of what's changing.

[50:24] On this slide we are looking at the two big components

[50:27] of international demand.

[50:28] Those components are Americans who travel abroad,

[50:32] and visitors who come to the United States.

[50:34] So in the dark blue you can see those Americans

[50:36] who are traveling abroad.

[50:38] People who buy their tickets here in the United States

[50:40] to travel abroad.

[50:41] In light blue you can see the visitors

[50:43] coming to the United States.

[50:44] What we saw between 2024 and the start of 2025

[50:48] was that both were growing, in fact visitation

[50:50] to the United States was growing really strongly and up 10% year

[50:53] over year.

[50:54] Then something happened in January 2025

[50:56] we can all speculate what.

[50:58] And we can see what happened.

[51:00] Outbound demand from the United States Americans traveling

[51:03] abroad continued to grow, but visitation into the United

[51:06] States fell off.

[51:07] And so what that has translated to is

[51:10] if you talk to the different airlines,

[51:11] the U.S. Carriers are saying our international demand is looking

[51:15] good because they predominantly sell to Americans traveling

[51:19] abroad, however when we talk to foreign carriers

[51:22] the foreign carriers who's traveling to Saint Paul

[51:24] they're saying the opposite they're

[51:26] saying it's not looking good, and that's

[51:28] all being driven by this falling off

[51:29] a cliff of the international demand coming into the United

[51:32] States.

[51:33] And when we dig a little bit deeper

[51:34] and we look at this on an individual market base

[51:36] across the United States, since that inflection

[51:39] point of January 2025.

[51:40] We have broken down each of the top 25 United States markets

[51:43] to see what that's meant from a visitation

[51:45] into the United States perspective.

[51:47] Some markets, a few markets have performed well.

[51:50] Dallas, Honolulu, Orlando, although I

[51:53] will note that some of those markets

[51:54] didn't do very well during the pandemic.

[51:56] And the overall United States average

[51:58] from visitation into the United States

[52:00] fell by 4.3% since that inflection point

[52:03] in January of 2025.

[52:04] Here at MSP we saw that drop 7%.

[52:07] So worse than the national average.

[52:09] We've heard that time and time again

[52:11] from our foreign flag carriers.

[52:13] The negative press particularly over this past winter

[52:16] that Minneapolis Saint Paul got and many foreign markets really

[52:20] impacted the perception of Minneapolis Saint

[52:22] Paul in those markets.

[52:24] People chose not to come because of what they saw on TV.

[52:27] That is a problem that we have to battle.

[52:29] That is a problem outside of our wheelhouse

[52:30] but it is a problem that we have to battle nonetheless.

[52:33] So that will inform the conversations

[52:35] that we have with our airlines.

[52:36] Over time we hope that those memories will fade away

[52:39] and hopefully people will come back.

[52:41] That's our goal.

[52:43] But that is the context in which we are operating.

[52:46] And with that, we would just like to summarize and close out.

[52:49] And I think there's a couple of things that are really

[52:51] important to remember.

[52:52] The fundamentals here in the Twin Cities in Minnesota

[52:55] are really strong.

[52:56] We have an incredible hub carrier

[52:58] in Delta come one of the strongest

[53:00] airlines in the industry, we have

[53:01] the only consistently profitable low cost carrier

[53:05] as Brad talked about merging with the most

[53:07] profitable low cost carrier in the industry.

[53:10] That's an incredible position for us to have.

[53:12] We have an incredible community that

[53:14] is driving this ongoing growth and demand

[53:17] whether it's from a perspective of outbound travel,

[53:19] or from a connecting perspective.

[53:21] We are very close to our 2027 target,

[53:26] we have tempered our expectations here

[53:28] because we don't want to over bake the cake on this one.

[53:31] But we do want to get close to that 2027 target of 170

[53:35] nonstop destinations.

[53:36] Our low fare carrier economics are changing.

[53:40] They have been challenged significantly

[53:42] over the last couple of years.

[53:44] But nonetheless Minneapolis-Saint Paul

[53:46] is positioned better than anybody else

[53:48] to cope with that transition as low cost carriers transition

[53:52] and we merge the two strongest couriers in that space.

[53:56] And what's also really interesting

[53:58] is looking at how Delta is growing.

[53:59] Delta has prioritized those coastal hubs

[54:02] as Brad talked about, but the time

[54:04] will come when those coastal hubs have closed out,

[54:06] their full, and delta will turn its attention

[54:09] back to the core hubs that generate

[54:10] the profit that MSP and the other core hubs

[54:13] have demonstrated.

[54:14] And with that we would like to open the floor up for questions.

[54:18] >> Thank you Mr. Chair, I want to go back to the comment about

[54:22] what transpired in Minneapolis Saint Paul.

[54:26] And if I heard this right, that had a very significant impact

[54:32] on foreign travel here.

[54:35] Do we have the facts and figures to back up

[54:39] what the perception was of foreign travelers?

[54:43] Was it any certain issue?

[54:45] Was it any particular reason?

[54:48] That we can cite?

[54:50] Because that's a pretty broad statement.

[54:53] Because I've been hearing it in a lot of different ways

[54:57] and different groups using it.

[54:58] So I would like to get a sense of what you see.

[55:02] >> That's a wonderful question Commissioner Ginsberg.

[55:04] Maybe I can paraphrase what one airline said to us.

[55:07] They pulled up the front page of the German newspaper

[55:09] and they said when you search Minneapolis Saint

[55:13] Paul in the German newspaper look at what you see?

[55:15] To be fair this was in March of this year

[55:18] and it was a particularly sensitive time,

[55:20] but they said people don't want to travel to somewhere where

[55:22] they feel like there are rights and the streets.

[55:24] That was the perception.

[55:26] We obviously challenged that perception

[55:28] and said that's obviously you know only part of the story

[55:31] and that the Twin Cities in Minnesota has a lot to offer.

[55:34] And I think certainly the conversations are definitely

[55:37] changing now because that sensitive period has changed.

[55:40] But to answer your question directly,

[55:42] the reality was the Ice agents in the streets

[55:47] was the real problem that people saw in foreign >> Wonderful.

[55:54] So whatever the event was in January 2025?

[55:56] Will that continue to be a negative now that the surge

[56:01] issue seems to be I'm just trying

[56:05] to get a sense of how much more we could look forward to losing.

[56:11] >> Look I wish I had a crystal ball Commissioner Ginsberg

[56:13] to tell you what was going to happen over the next 12 months.

[56:15] But our hope, and certainly the tenor of the conversations

[56:18] that we are having now is that things are certainly improving

[56:22] from a perception basis.

[56:23] We hope that continues.

[56:25] We don't want to go back to I don't

[56:27] think anybody in this community wants to go back to what

[56:29] we saw this past winter.

[56:30] And I certainly think the airline cares shares

[56:34] the same impact same opinion.

[56:38] >> I think it's fair to share if we get back to the level

[56:41] of every other U.S. Destination would be great,

[56:44] but the bar has gone higher, however you want to say it.

[56:47] But everything has gotten much worse overall

[56:49] for the whole country.

[56:50] So we have to be realistic about what

[56:53] the foreign demand for travel to the United States is.

[57:09] >> Coming from a community that's been targeted,

[57:11] I think ice does have a really huge impact.

[57:14] You have Ice in your policies right?

[57:16] So coming from higher education, even international students

[57:20] are not coming.

[57:21] And I think there was a newspaper article today

[57:26] in the Forbes magazine about the declining international students

[57:31] and the impact on revenue with college and universities.

[57:34] Many of the colleges rely heavily

[57:36] on international students from India

[57:38] from China and from other places.

[57:41] So the ice raid I would call it, we basically scared them away.

[57:50] The other thing is I think even with the recent policy directive

[57:55] from Washington D.C. They were focused on African nations.

[58:01] Visas.

[58:02] Where you have to deposit $20,000 in order to do that so I

[58:08] think it's these series of not only just ice,

[58:11] but also policies that can have an impact.

[58:13] My mother in law wanted to travel to France,

[58:17] and we didn't want her to go, but she wanted to go.

[58:22] So she's over there now, she's coming back in the conversation

[58:25] that I had with my wife yesterday was

[58:27] I'm afraid that she might be detained on the way back.

[58:31] Even though she's a United States citizen.

[58:32] So it's that kind of fear that I think is preventing people.

[58:37] You don't want to find out.

[58:40] What's going to happen.

[58:41] But, I think that's really affecting a lot of these.

[58:46] >> We've heard it from multiple international airlines,

[58:48] that just the sentiment, like we have conversations with them.

[58:53] They're very concerned about the demand

[58:56] from foreign points of sale to the U.S.

[59:00] And we are seeing that in real world.

[59:03] >> Also Commissioner to validate what you're saying,

[59:06] we're also hearing from communities of interest

[59:08] in the Twin Cities who are U.S. Citizens who don't want

[59:10] to travel to their homeland because they're worried about

[59:13] whether they can come back much like what you're expressing.

[59:15] So what you are saying we hear absolutely.

[59:19] >> It's impacting air service around the country.

[59:22] For the first time in a long time

[59:23] we're starting to see foreign carriers suspend U.S. Routes.

[59:28] We hadn't really seen much of that for several years.

[59:31] They're starting to pull back a little bit now.

[59:34] So that is impacting close to home as well.

[59:38] >> Other comments or questions?

[59:40] Yes?

[59:45] >> Thank you Mr. Chair.

[59:46] I was just curious if you see a time Allegiant they've canceled

[59:49] like 33% of their flights.

[59:51] How long is this going to >> Our conversation with them,

[59:58] it's not going to be a long term thing.

[1:00:00] Whenever you have a merger, the union contracts

[1:00:04] for the pilots in particular which

[1:00:06] is a very transferable skill, they become an issue.

[1:00:10] If you were at the bottom of a seniority

[1:00:12] list going into a merger.

[1:00:14] It's a good time to make a change

[1:00:17] if the opportunity exists.

[1:00:19] While all of that is happening, Delta

[1:00:22] has been going through a pretty major hiring phase on pilots.

[1:00:26] Two different things, coincidence

[1:00:28] it happened at the same time and as you

[1:00:30] can imagine if you're an MSP based

[1:00:31] pilot is going to be at the bottom of a combined seniority

[1:00:35] list and Delta is hiring, you might take a look.

[1:00:40] So that's been part of it.

[1:00:41] It's only part of it.

[1:00:44] Sun country always pulls back in September

[1:00:48] so that's also pretty typical.

[1:00:49] From the indications we've gotten you know they're hiring.

[1:00:53] They're bringing people into their classes

[1:00:54] they'll get back up here Allegiant actually

[1:00:56] has a bit of a pilot surplus right now.

[1:00:59] So once they actually merge the operating certificates

[1:01:02] and can start cross-training pilots and moving them around,

[1:01:05] they shouldn't have a problem.

[1:01:07] Allegiant's never really had a problem attracting pilots.

[1:01:09] Being a profitable airline is a very very attractive place

[1:01:14] for a pilot to land.

[1:01:15] Because you know we just saw what happened to spirit,

[1:01:18] and those guys are going to be at the bottom of all

[1:01:20] of the seniority lists looking for new jobs now.

[1:01:22] So it will sort itself out.

[1:01:24] But it is a little bit of a problem at the moment for sure.

[1:01:27] >> Okay thank you.

[1:01:29] >> Any other questions or comments?

[1:01:30] Thank you very much.

[1:01:32] It's been a very useful presentation.

[1:01:34] Thanks for the very good work.

[1:01:37] Now, before we move on to the agenda,

[1:01:40] there have been some late arriving

[1:01:43] people wishing to speak.

[1:01:45] And I'm going to just, I believe you all

[1:01:50] are affiliated with the SEIU?

[1:01:52] I want to give you the opportunity either individually

[1:01:56] or as a pair or a triple.

[1:02:02] I have the names.

[1:02:04] I apologize for mispronouncing. --

[1:02:23] I believe I have two for you.

[1:02:25] So I may have missed somebody.

[1:02:26] So is there anyone who would care to speak,

[1:02:29] please come forward.

[1:02:30] We've got your cards I hope.

[1:02:55] >> Hello to the Commission, thank you for the chance

[1:02:57] to speak with you today.

[1:02:58] My name is Abdurrahman, I drive for Uber and Lyft serving

[1:03:05] customers here at the MSP, I'm a member of SEIU.

[1:03:12] Local 26.

[1:03:13] I'm here to speak about the proposal

[1:03:16] to build permanent restrooms.

[1:03:19] In the driver's waiting area.

[1:03:23] I think it's something good.

[1:03:25] Drivers have been struggling for a long time.

[1:03:28] The first bathrooms we had were outside portables

[1:03:32] that were very hot during the summer and cold

[1:03:35] during the winter.

[1:03:40] I want to thank the MSP for improving the bathrooms that

[1:03:45] have been running water and the drivers washing their hands,

[1:03:54] I want to thank the members of the leaders of Siu look

[1:03:58] who have kept standing together with the drivers

[1:04:00] and other workers, we have come here together so many times,

[1:04:06] along with the bathrooms which was appreciated,

[1:04:09] but drivers also need a waiting area

[1:04:11] where we can escape the heat and cold

[1:04:14] without running our engines.

[1:04:17] This will be a place where drivers could stay while we

[1:04:24] wait to serve customers nearby.

[1:04:27] I want to share my things with the union and everyone who

[1:04:31] is working to make the drivers lives better.

[1:04:34] Thank you so much.

[1:04:37] >> Thank you sir.

[1:04:38] I believe there is Mark Sharif who wishes

[1:04:42] to speak is that correct?

[1:04:43] Please come forward.

[1:04:45] Thank you.

[1:04:54] >> Thank you my name is Mohamed Sharif.

[1:04:55] I have been driving Uber and Lyft since 2023,

[1:05:01] I moved from Boston.

[1:05:07] I didn't drive Uber and Lyft in Boston

[1:05:10] but I drove taxi and limousine.

[1:05:14] And I think the union for this opportunity

[1:05:17] to come in front of you.

[1:05:20] The gentleman before me we really

[1:05:27] appreciate the permanent bathroom in the waiting area.

[1:05:34] In addition, even 15ft place as a waiting place it would

[1:05:47] wouldn't be necessary for us to run the engine in idle

[1:05:51] in the waiting area.

[1:05:57] We ask if you can add that into the proposal

[1:06:01] and also in addition to that the Uber and Lyft pick up

[1:06:06] area inside the airport.

[1:06:14] We think very well organized direct customers and drivers

[1:06:20] in moving lane and also for parking.

[1:06:22] But.

[1:06:23] Our experience for security customer

[1:06:28] when they come to the airport.

[1:06:30] They are eagle to eager to get out of the airport

[1:06:34] and to get their car and to move on.

[1:06:37] So many times customers come to the airport

[1:06:41] and get out and just cross the line.

[1:06:46] And go to the back to get their car.

[1:06:51] And that creates very risky , and in front I have experience

[1:07:00] in Boston people dying in that case.

[1:07:04] If we put the additional sign directing people

[1:07:08] not to cross the lane the moving lane,

[1:07:14] and also the elevator is in front of the a.

[1:07:19] And number A is on a.

[1:07:22] So people are crowded in zone A all the time

[1:07:26] and now the drivers have a lot of traffic

[1:07:28] to get in front of the customer.

[1:07:30] So if we put the sign, they can move to B or C,

[1:07:39] direct to the customer.

[1:07:40] Then that would be helpful.

[1:07:41] Thank you.

[1:07:44] >> Thank you very much.

[1:07:47] Again I've had a number of these cards come up, some of them

[1:07:49] are duplicates.

[1:07:50] So I think I've called on everybody who wishes

[1:07:53] to speak in the public forum?

[1:07:55] If so, let's move down to Alice and Kelly

[1:08:00] with an update on the Mac labor agreements.

[1:08:10] >> Hello.

[1:08:11] Good afternoon.

[1:08:19] All right.

[1:08:22] I'm Allison Kelly, I'm the labor and employee relations

[1:08:27] manager for the Mac, chair and commissioners

[1:08:31] I'm happy to be here.

[1:08:32] As the last of our Mac labor agreements were approved today,

[1:08:35] and also to give you an information session summarizing

[1:08:39] the conclusion of our Mac bargaining season.

[1:08:45] This was my first round of negotiations here at the Mac.

[1:08:49] With these Mac groups.

[1:08:53] There have also been several new commissioners

[1:08:55] who have joined us along the way as these contracts have settled.

[1:08:58] I'm hoping this is good information sharing

[1:09:00] and everybody gets a good grasp of what we did

[1:09:04] and where we are at today and what we have to look forward to.

[1:09:08] So, let me -- let me give you some summary here.

[1:09:13] We have about 826 permanent employees who work for the Mac.

[1:09:18] About half of those are employees

[1:09:20] who are represented by a labor union.

[1:09:22] We have a total of 13 labor contracts.

[1:09:25] All of our Mac's permanent employees

[1:09:28] are defined as public employees, and the collective bargaining

[1:09:32] process is governed by the Minnesota public Labor Relations

[1:09:36] Act and para.

[1:09:38] Under State statute chapter 179 a.

[1:09:42] So the Mac employees that work in and around

[1:09:44] the MSP airport and campus as well as our six reliever

[1:09:48] airports.

[1:09:51] Sometimes it gets confusing we have

[1:09:54] Mac folks intertwined with a lot of other MSP employees.

[1:09:57] So com a total of 13 contracts, let's break that down.

[1:10:01] I'm going to break it down by the expiration time,

[1:10:04] so we have eight contracts that expire December 31st of 2025.

[1:10:07] So the eight tend to expire at the end of the year.

[1:10:11] Or every three years.

[1:10:13] And during our negotiation period,

[1:10:16] those eight expire first, and then those groups begin

[1:10:23] negotiating in late summer or early fall,

[1:10:25] and they kind of work through the process however long each

[1:10:28] 1st May take.

[1:10:29] We have our International Union of Operating Engineers local 70,

[1:10:34] we have our firefighters driver operators

[1:10:36] fire captains, battalion chiefs, our emergency communications

[1:10:41] specialist, those are like our 911 dispatch folks.

[1:10:44] We have police officers, police sergeants

[1:10:46] come a place youth tenants, and our international local

[1:10:50] operators 49, those are the eight that

[1:10:51] expire at the end of the year.

[1:10:53] Then we have our three that expire in the spring and April.

[1:10:57] The same as April of 2026.

[1:11:02] And we typically start meeting with those folks

[1:11:05] in early February or March, sometimes

[1:11:07] there's a little bit of overlap.

[1:11:09] Those are all completed.

[1:11:11] And most of those happened pretty close to on time.

[1:11:15] Which is good.

[1:11:16] We have one contract that expires June 30th,

[1:11:18] we just approved that one you did your final approval on that

[1:11:21] one today.

[1:11:21] And then we have one last one, a trades group that expires April

[1:11:26] 30th of 2027.

[1:11:28] The reason that last trades contract is a little different

[1:11:31] is because we pay the outside total package

[1:11:37] rate for those plumbers.

[1:11:38] So we've lined up their time, to line up with our outside plumber

[1:11:42] contract.

[1:11:43] So, some of our major highlights from negotiations,

[1:11:47] we have our 2026 wage increase of three and a half,

[1:11:51] our 2027 wage increase of 3% in 2028 and our 3.5% wage increase.

[1:11:56] So all of our represented folks are

[1:11:58] going to receive those wage increases.

[1:12:00] We did do market adjustments where

[1:12:03] warranted by analysis about five bargaining units

[1:12:06] were impacted by that.

[1:12:07] We did achieve consistency of observed holidays,

[1:12:10] and when floating holidays are used by across the Mac

[1:12:13] we kind of had a mish mash of different dates

[1:12:16] so it's nice to have that all consistent.

[1:12:18] We had numerous changes to our leave of absence language

[1:12:20] to comply with recent state legislation for sick

[1:12:24] and leave time.

[1:12:26] And Family medical leave and lining those up

[1:12:28] with policies and the Mac's approach

[1:12:30] to those various leaves.

[1:12:32] We had our East weather exemption language,

[1:12:35] and we had our vacation accrual process,

[1:12:40] so every unionized group and Mac employee will

[1:12:42] have had their opportunity to do that process by the end

[1:12:46] of this calendar year.

[1:12:48] We also achieved some compliance with our health care savings

[1:12:51] plan accounts based on how Msrs prefers that we structure those,

[1:12:56] so we made some really good achievements,

[1:12:59] you know, the unions primarily have various economic proposals

[1:13:02] common in this round of negotiations

[1:13:04] there's a fair amount of language proposals.

[1:13:07] Mostly due to a lot of legislative changes.

[1:13:09] And we were able to work through all

[1:13:10] of those items for each of the different groups really

[1:13:13] successfully.

[1:13:16] So, gratitude and what's next.

[1:13:19] I think in my role, which I think sometimes

[1:13:22] isn't always viewed as the most favorite person in the room.

[1:13:28] I think it's really important to show gratitude,

[1:13:31] because the work that we do together

[1:13:34] is a lot it's intense work.

[1:13:37] And it's sensitive.

[1:13:39] And it has to do with the livelihood of our employees.

[1:13:43] So I want to just take a minute to give my gratitude.

[1:13:48] The negotiation process is long.

[1:13:51] It takes a lot of people to successfully work through it

[1:13:54] all.

[1:13:54] I want to -- there's a lot of people to thank through this

[1:13:59] process.

[1:13:59] So first, each and every union Steward and representative

[1:14:04] who engaged in the negotiations this round,

[1:14:07] I give my gratitude and appreciation.

[1:14:09] Many of our contrasts face some challenging topics,

[1:14:12] whether it was the state imposed changes, compensation structure

[1:14:16] changes, holidays, there was really

[1:14:18] no issue too small or too big for us

[1:14:20] to tackle collaboratively.

[1:14:22] The union stewards put their time and efforts

[1:14:24] into this process, and it does not go unnoticed.

[1:14:27] I also want to thank the department representatives who

[1:14:29] sat at each table with me, it was a time consuming process,

[1:14:32] they each had other competing priorities,

[1:14:34] but they made thoughtful and creative contributions

[1:14:37] and they took time to ensure that I understood

[1:14:39] their operations and their needs to make bargaining

[1:14:42] productive and transparent.

[1:14:43] Which is really critical for the success of bargaining.

[1:14:47] I want to acknowledge the fellow comrades in HR and finance,

[1:14:51] the Business partners coordinators

[1:14:53] benefits team payroll team, all of their work

[1:14:55] through the bargaining process and implementing these changes.

[1:14:57] No matter what I do at the table,

[1:14:59] they have to help me implement it and work it through.

[1:15:02] So their work is critical.

[1:15:03] And lastly I want to appreciate or highlight my appreciation

[1:15:07] for Kathy McGarry, Vice President of Human Resources

[1:15:10] and Labor Relations.

[1:15:12] Her support and leadership along with the executive team

[1:15:15] helped set the tone with the labor groups,

[1:15:17] they've been really clear communicators with me

[1:15:19] about their expectations with my role

[1:15:21] as I engage with labor throughout this process,

[1:15:23] this is an organization that cares about its employees,

[1:15:26] and that starts at the top with Brian.

[1:15:28] And it's obvious, and it shows up at the bargaining table.

[1:15:31] If you've ever negotiated a labor contract

[1:15:33] or had the privilege to even be close to the universe

[1:15:36] of negotiating a labor contract, you

[1:15:38] know it can easily become contentious and frustrations

[1:15:41] escalate.

[1:15:42] That isn't to say that each table this round was easy

[1:15:45] or that people didn't get frustrated,

[1:15:47] but overall, everyone was respectful,

[1:15:50] people took time to listen to each other,

[1:15:52] and while that may seem like a very common sense approach,

[1:15:55] it surely is an easy thing to take for granted.

[1:15:58] But it does make a world of difference in the process.

[1:16:01] So, given that everyone is asking me what's next!

[1:16:05] What do we do?

[1:16:08] So we really do have to finalize the implementation of all

[1:16:10] of these agreements.

[1:16:11] There is quite a bit of work to do

[1:16:12] on that on the back end that's kind of invisible.

[1:16:15] And then we monitor for the mid changes,

[1:16:18] we did a lot of things in the out years

[1:16:20] so we have to make sure that those things get completed.

[1:16:22] We continue, I will do information sharing sessions

[1:16:26] with departments to make sure that everybody understands

[1:16:29] how to administer the contract.

[1:16:30] And then we just continue to work through that process

[1:16:33] with key partners.

[1:16:35] We will get back to our regular management committees,

[1:16:37] and maintain good consistent communication

[1:16:39] with our labor groups.

[1:16:40] And then just general continued labor relations

[1:16:43] program administration, addressing issues

[1:16:45] as they arise throughout the contract period.

[1:16:47] There's never really a shortage of something to work on.

[1:16:50] And then, in the spring we will start negotiations

[1:16:53] with the United Association of Plumbers Local 34

[1:16:55] so you will get a break from me until about then.

[1:16:59] But that's kind of the big thing ahead.

[1:17:04] I appreciate your time and support,

[1:17:07] and understanding this process.

[1:17:09] I think that's important for our employees to know and hear.

[1:17:12] I think that's important for you all to know in here as well.

[1:17:15] The Mac works because we all put the work in to do it

[1:17:18] and we are successful.

[1:17:19] So thank you for your time.

[1:17:20] I will stand for any questions or I'll just

[1:17:24] be so good that I'll just go.

[1:17:27] >> Allison thank you so much and I think I can speak

[1:17:29] for the whole commission when I express express appreciation

[1:17:33] just as you have done to all of the people who enabled us to get

[1:17:37] these agreements settled in a fair, equitable,

[1:17:42] and speedy and transparent manner.

[1:17:43] So thank you.

[1:17:45] Are there any questions?

[1:17:47] Commissioner?

[1:17:49] >> Same.

[1:17:50] I mean this was your first shot come you hit the grand slam.

[1:17:53] So congratulations.

[1:17:54] My question is if the legislature changes,

[1:17:58] paid family leave or sick save time,

[1:18:01] does that impact contracts?

[1:18:06] >> Yes it certainly can.

[1:18:07] It really depends on what those changes may be.

[1:18:09] I think we try really hard when we

[1:18:12] reach agreements on topics like that under state

[1:18:17] leave to leave ourselves enough flexibility where

[1:18:19] if the legislature tweaks a thing or two

[1:18:22] then we can kind of work it in with the agreement that we have.

[1:18:26] But there is certainly, I mean in the last 5 to 7 years

[1:18:29] there has been more legislative changes that affect employers

[1:18:33] than we have seen in probably 20 years.

[1:18:35] So, sometimes we have to do supplemental modifications,

[1:18:39] clarifications, so, it can.

[1:18:42] It just depends on what it is really.

[1:18:46] >> Thank you.

[1:18:48] >> Other questions and comments?

[1:18:49] Yes?

[1:18:52] >> Hi, I just want to thank you.

[1:18:53] It appears that you have a lot of respect for the labor groups,

[1:18:56] and that doesn't always happen with every large corporation

[1:19:02] or whatever.

[1:19:04] But, coming from a labor job, I just

[1:19:08] want you to know that it is so appreciated

[1:19:10] and such a breath of fresh air to have somebody

[1:19:13] speak in the manner that you do about getting

[1:19:17] along and listening to the union stewards, it's really admirable.

[1:19:23] So thank you.

[1:19:26] >> Thank you.

[1:19:29] >> And again, thank you very much.

[1:19:31] Thanks to all of your colleagues, and thanks to all

[1:19:34] of our union partners.

[1:19:35] Thank you.

[1:19:36] We now turn to the CEO report with Brian.

[1:19:40] So, over to you.

[1:19:42] >> Thank you chair Lawrence, good afternoon commissioners

[1:19:45] Commissioner horn I appreciate what you just said.

[1:19:48] For those of you who don't know Allison

[1:19:49] used to sit on the other side of the table.

[1:19:52] So I think us being able to obtain her

[1:19:56] in this role really allows us to progress in a positive way.

[1:20:02] And she's got the ability to be straightforward, upfront,

[1:20:08] and generate trust, and that's what it

[1:20:13] takes to get these things done.

[1:20:15] But I asked her to come and do this

[1:20:17] because I really wanted all of you

[1:20:18] to know how much we appreciate our 13 bargaining

[1:20:25] units and all that they do.

[1:20:28] I mean they do first class professional work for us

[1:20:31] and we are very proud of the things that they accomplish.

[1:20:33] So thank you for saying that.

[1:20:36] Relevant to the third public speaker today chief Operating

[1:20:40] Officer Fuhrman has already spoken with her,

[1:20:44] so we will work with them to accommodate

[1:20:48] what we can in that regard.

[1:20:51] So, hopefully we will take care of that one.

[1:20:55] The presentation the air service development presentation

[1:20:59] comm I won't go into any more detail other than to say

[1:21:02] our top priority is to move those numbers back

[1:21:05] in a positive direction.

[1:21:08] And, you know we were more ambitious about where

[1:21:12] our passenger numbers would be this year

[1:21:14] and we had the war happened with the spike in fuel prices,

[1:21:19] airlines cut their capacity.

[1:21:21] But we are doing okay.

[1:21:23] June here today as you can see in your report or your packet

[1:21:27] we are down 1.45%.

[1:21:29] Year to date we are down about 2.5%.

[1:21:31] After the first quarter earnings calls

[1:21:33] that we saw with Delta and other airlines

[1:21:35] we kind of projected about a 3% decrease.

[1:21:37] So we are hoping to be a little bit better than that.

[1:21:41] We are now moving through our busy summer season, June, July,

[1:21:46] and August.

[1:21:47] And once sports activities start in schools

[1:21:51] we start to see that flatten a little bit.

[1:21:53] So that will begin here, and then

[1:21:56] we will look forward to the busy October May that weekend

[1:22:01] and then we get into holidays.

[1:22:03] So -- we will see where things go as we move forward.

[1:22:11] You are all advised throughout the last 3 to 4 weeks,

[1:22:14] and had a couple of events that we have here we

[1:22:16] call them irregular operations.

[1:22:18] Because they're not normal by any standpoint.

[1:22:22] Staff managed through two major events in the past month in July

[1:22:35] there was some bad conditions in Chicago

[1:22:40] so we had flights routed to us, talking to folks around here

[1:22:45] that was the largest amount of diversions

[1:22:47] that we've had that they ever recall.

[1:22:50] So, it was a big event.

[1:22:52] Because many of the diversions were

[1:22:54] wide body and international flights,

[1:22:58] the airlines did not have staff that operated here.

[1:23:03] So, it required extensive coordination by our teams,

[1:23:07] and I will just say our operations.

[1:23:09] And Mac teams.

[1:23:11] They activated our diversion plan,

[1:23:13] and just did a tremendous amount of coordination

[1:23:16] with federal partners, other service providers

[1:23:19] to support these operations without the local equipment

[1:23:24] that airlines typically have.

[1:23:26] We assisted with remote parking locations, for aircraft,

[1:23:30] we assisted with passenger transport for those aircraft.

[1:23:35] And connecting flight crews, we assisted

[1:23:39] with fueling operations, obviously and other needs.

[1:23:43] What you may or may not know, is once an aircraft comes

[1:23:47] in and sits on the ramp, for domestic three hours,

[1:23:53] those passengers have to be unloaded.

[1:23:55] And it's four hours for international flights.

[1:23:57] So, we also coordinated with CBP to process about 2000 passengers

[1:24:04] through our customs and border facilities here at.

[1:24:09] Which, you know, when that happens,

[1:24:12] it typically happens when the facility is busy to.

[1:24:14] So there was a lot of movement of aircraft off of gates.

[1:24:17] And then we had about 200 individuals

[1:24:19] that ended up spending the night,

[1:24:20] so we did our best to accommodate them here

[1:24:23] in the terminal.

[1:24:24] And then, a second event occurred just maybe a week

[1:24:28] or week and a half later on August 6th when f a had

[1:24:32] a regional equipment outage and it triggered a ground stop here

[1:24:39] at Minneapolis.

[1:24:39] Something that we don't see very often.

[1:24:42] Again, our staff initiated the emergency Operations center,

[1:24:48] we worked closely with the airlines,

[1:24:50] we stayed in contact with the f a, to really get a handle on it

[1:24:55] and what could be expected moving forward.

[1:24:58] Unfortunately it only lasted about two hours,

[1:25:02] and then we had to accommodate some passengers here again

[1:25:05] that evening.

[1:25:06] But again, I think both events impact

[1:25:11] and highlight our staff here at.

[1:25:14] When things happen people always ask me,

[1:25:15] what's the biggest thing at a hub airport?

[1:25:18] And my answer is when something happens, it happens like that,

[1:25:23] and there are so many triggering impacts beyond that.

[1:25:27] Is just a monopoly of things that you have to deal with.

[1:25:29] But our staff is well trained and did just a fantastic job.

[1:25:34] So I just wanted to thank them for all that they

[1:25:37] did in both of those events.

[1:25:39] Changing topics, on August 4th our airport police department

[1:25:43] once again hosted a Night to Unite celebration which is

[1:25:49] our version of National Night Out,

[1:25:51] the event takes place here in the terminal midday.

[1:25:54] In the airport mall it brought together about 800 passengers

[1:25:59] and employees in airport partners

[1:26:01] to really focus on connections and giving travelers

[1:26:05] a chance to meet the teams who keep MSP airport safe.

[1:26:10] Again, thanks to the airport police department

[1:26:13] and our airport fire department was on hand,

[1:26:16] we had a number of other partners, TSA, federal air

[1:26:20] marshals, airport Foundation, and others

[1:26:22] that really helped that event.

[1:26:24] Again it's a nice promotional event for passengers.

[1:26:26] The police department gives out backpacks

[1:26:28] for kids, that are preparing to go to school in a few weeks.

[1:26:33] So really a nice event.

[1:26:35] I also wanted to do a shout out to our airport police department

[1:26:38] relative to a new milestone.

[1:26:41] With its new cadet program.

[1:26:44] Grace Donahue and Savannah Hutchins

[1:26:48] were the program's inaugural graduates this summer.

[1:26:52] And both returned to our airport police department

[1:26:55] as full time officers this month.

[1:26:58] So they started as cadets, and moved through.

[1:27:01] They will be sworn into this commission at a future date.

[1:27:05] The cadet program was launched last year,

[1:27:09] and what we would hope would build

[1:27:11] a strong pipeline for our airport police department

[1:27:13] officers.

[1:27:14] Both Grace and Savannah shared that the combination

[1:27:18] of classroom learning and real world airport operations

[1:27:22] from air traffic direction to airfield security

[1:27:25] made them more confident and prepared for full time service.

[1:27:30] We also help pay them for that education

[1:27:33] as they are going through that cadet program.

[1:27:36] So I want to thank both airport police department

[1:27:40] leadership and HR for bringing that program here to MSP.

[1:27:46] Also, some nice recognition, I don't know,

[1:27:50] did we send that recognition out to the commissioners?

[1:27:52] I can't remember if we did or not.

[1:27:55] But you all probably heard about the devastating fire

[1:27:57] in Saint Louis Park that damaged 90 units at the helix apartment

[1:28:03] complex.

[1:28:04] That fire required a significant response,

[1:28:08] and our airport fire department was part of that response.

[1:28:12] The firefighters involved in that it was a very hot day,

[1:28:16] so heat was an issue.

[1:28:17] It was challenging conditions.

[1:28:19] As they were working across multiple agencies.

[1:28:22] But we received a thank you letter

[1:28:23] from Mayor Nadia Muhammad and City Manager Kim Keller

[1:28:28] following the incident.

[1:28:30] And some of the things they said in their incidents of this scale

[1:28:34] remind us that no agency responds alone.

[1:28:36] Your team and others came together seamlessly

[1:28:39] to protect lives, care for people,

[1:28:41] and bring that fire under control.

[1:28:43] Your willingness to answer the call is deeply appreciated.

[1:28:46] And we are fortunate to work alongside partners

[1:28:49] who consistently demonstrate professionalism, expertise,

[1:28:52] and a shared commitment to serving our community.

[1:28:55] So again I thank you to our airport fire department

[1:28:58] who answered the call.

[1:28:59] We are really proud of the relationships that we have,

[1:29:02] with our fire department and area police departments.

[1:29:07] And their relationships that have been established

[1:29:10] to really help support each other

[1:29:12] because if something happens here,

[1:29:13] we need them just as much as they need us.

[1:29:17] Moving to concessions, Elite Cafe

[1:29:21] is now open at terminal two, that's part of the latest RFP

[1:29:24] that you approved I guess it was last year.

[1:29:28] The Italian coffee brand offers a full espresso

[1:29:31] bar, breakfast items sandwiches and salads and is open 7 a.m.

[1:29:36] To 8 p.m.

[1:29:36] Daily and it's nice to have it.

[1:29:38] It's pre-security so it's nice to have food and beverages

[1:29:42] Pre-security.

[1:29:42] There's some upcoming events as we finish off the year.

[1:29:48] That I just want to report on.

[1:29:51] Earlier this month the E Experimental Aircraft

[1:29:55] Association hosted their popular pancake breakfast at Lake Elmo

[1:29:59] Airport, the Mac will be back at the Minnesota State Fair this

[1:30:03] year on September 4th as part of MPR day.

[1:30:06] So it gives us an opportunity to really promote what we do

[1:30:09] as an organization and all the airports that we own

[1:30:12] and operate, Girls in Aviation Day will be back at Flying Cloud

[1:30:16] Airport on September 19th, a very popular event as well.

[1:30:19] And then, we are working closely with the airport Foundation

[1:30:22] on the annual state of the airport address,

[1:30:25] and that will be October 1st, and our keynote will be

[1:30:30] Allegiant CEO Greg Anderson, so I'll be able to ask him some

[1:30:35] pointed questions about what Allegiant's plans are here

[1:30:39] in the future.

[1:30:39] Can we hope he answers those questions right?

[1:30:42] But I'm sure he will.

[1:30:44] So we are looking forward to having --

[1:30:46] >> I don't think he'll be showing up if he's not ready

[1:30:48] to answer those questions.

[1:30:51] >> Yeah.

[1:30:51] So anyhow, also we received some great news

[1:30:55] that Tim Simon just reported this morning

[1:30:56] at our staff meeting.

[1:30:58] We had a call with the rating agency standard

[1:31:05] and Fitch a couple of weeks ago I guess it was.

[1:31:09] Relative to our refinancing of bonds coming up here

[1:31:15] towards the end of the year.

[1:31:16] And, the great news is they our bond rating didn't drop at all.

[1:31:27] It remained the same, and that's great news

[1:31:31] especially at a time when it's a little bit more

[1:31:34] of a challenging year.

[1:31:35] And, the other thing that they mention in here

[1:31:38] is under their section title Enterprise Risk profile,

[1:31:43] they've got a few words that I want to read here.

[1:31:46] It says despite lowering plane mints revenue has experienced

[1:31:50] more than total rebound in fiscal 2025

[1:31:53] net revenue was 4.5% above the fiscal 2019 levels

[1:31:57] which was a record year for US.

[1:31:59] They say we believe that prudent financial management practices

[1:32:03] and policies have supported the airport's

[1:32:05] overall healthy financial performance,

[1:32:07] and we consider the management team

[1:32:10] very experienced and effective at running

[1:32:11] all aspects of the airport.

[1:32:13] Management invests heavily in employee development,

[1:32:16] and leadership has been stable over the past several years,

[1:32:18] most senior leaders have prior experience

[1:32:21] in state and local government or aviation,

[1:32:23] and several have worked for the Mac for a decade or more.

[1:32:27] So congratulations to Tim and his team,

[1:32:29] along with the entire senior management

[1:32:31] team for the great work that they do.

[1:32:34] It does get recognized, and this is very important,

[1:32:36] because it saves us a lot of money as we issue bonds.

[1:32:40] And then, the final thing that I have is a shout out

[1:32:44] to one of our longtime concession partners

[1:32:47] here at the airport, you all know Frederick Estes,

[1:32:54] who is in the second generation owner of Estes Enterprises.

[1:32:59] He was one of nine local leaders inducted into the inaugural

[1:33:04] Minnesota Black Business Hall of Fame and that happened on August

[1:33:08] 8th.

[1:33:08] Hall of Fame recognizes entrepreneurs

[1:33:11] come executives and innovators whose vision and leadership

[1:33:14] have transformed Minnesota's economy.

[1:33:16] Estes is a very familiar face here at MSP and after starting

[1:33:22] as a group of street side gift shops back in Minneapolis,

[1:33:25] 53 years ago the first SSP opened in the late 1980s

[1:33:31] and today they operate multiple retail locations across MSP

[1:33:36] and Tampa International Airport offering travelers grab and go

[1:33:40] snacks gum electronics home souvenirs,

[1:33:42] specialty retail products, and I know Fred was I think the first

[1:33:48] one to offer that digital experience where you know,

[1:33:52] he does have someone standing as you enter into the terminal two

[1:33:57] location.

[1:33:57] But, it's all basically a self-serve credit card operation

[1:34:02] yep so congratulations to Frederick and the full Estes

[1:34:06] Enterprise team.

[1:34:07] I think I see Frederick sitting in the back.

[1:34:11] So Frederick thank you and congratulations to you.

[1:34:19] [Applause]

[1:34:23] >> That is my report.

[1:34:24] A lot of items in there today but there

[1:34:24] was a lot to report on.

[1:34:25] >> Questions for Brian?

[1:34:28] Okay next up on the agenda, thank you Brian.

[1:34:32] Is my remarks.

[1:34:33] I don't have any.

[1:34:35] But if anybody has a remark for me, now's the time.

[1:34:39] Because we are going to go into a closed session.

[1:34:41] Then we will come out of it.

[1:34:45] But, I think anything we should be doing now.

[1:34:50] So, I need to read from the script.

[1:34:53] We will now close the meeting to discuss items related

[1:34:57] to Mac's cybersecurity systems.

[1:35:00] The open meeting law in Minnesota statute section 13.057

[1:35:05] D three Parenthese D permits this meeting

[1:35:11] to be closed to the public because the disclosure

[1:35:13] of the information discussed would

[1:35:15] pose a danger to public safety or compromise security

[1:35:19] procedures or responses.

[1:35:21] During the closed session, the live video and its recording

[1:35:24] will be suspended with a note indicating

[1:35:26] that we are in closed session.

[1:35:28] The speaker is outside of the commission room

[1:35:32] will be turned off.

[1:35:33] And anyone not necessary for the discussion

[1:35:35] will be asked to leave.

[1:35:37] When we return from the closed session,

[1:35:39] we will reopen the meeting during that time

[1:35:42] we would take any necessary votes which we will not

[1:35:44] do during the closed session.

[1:35:46] So I call now for a motion to close the meeting.

[1:35:53] >> So moved.

[1:35:54] >> Second?

[1:35:56] >> All in favor?

[1:35:59] Okay.

[1:36:00] The meeting is closed.

[1:36:02] We are going to pause the feed.

[1:36:41] [Board is in Closed Session] And then \

Full Commission

Agenda

Transcript