Shifting Global Airline Service and the Local Community

Abstract

This report presents results from a one-year study investigating the allocation, organization, and importance of international passenger and freight service among US cities. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) serves as a case study throughout. The study addressed specific causes and effects of the international air service MSP currently enjoys. The goal of this report is to inform public policy decision-makers, business leaders, and private citizens about international air service at MSP: the regulatory framework that shapes the international service map, connections between such service and urban development, and Minneapolis/St. Paul's standing among other Midwestern cities in terms of access to major foreign destinations. The final section of this report comments on the tenuous nature of nonstop international service in today's liberal international environment, current efforts to enhance international service to the Twin Cities, and questions that remain unanswered about the Twin Cities place on the international service map.