Air travel looks very different now than it did just a few years ago when the coronavirus pandemic grounded folks around the world, putting a halt to travel for both leisure and business.
In 2020, passenger traffic on U.S. airlines was at its lowest since the mid-1980s, with just 369 million passengers. In 2021, the U.S. started to get back to more normal air travel levels, and by 2022, the country was up to 853 million airline passengers. By the looks of it, 2023 is likely to outpace those numbers and return to pre-pandemic levels—nearly 3 million people flew in and out of U.S. airports daily as of April 2023, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Organization.
When you're at the airport, shuffling around with your roller bag, backpack, neck pillow, and water bottle among the thousands of other passengers doing the same, you're probably not too concerned with more than your flight. Is it on time? Who will be sitting next to you? Did your checked bag make it onto the plane?
But when you're not in flight mode, you may be wondering where all of the other folks at your local airport are traveling to. To answer that question, Stacker compiled a list of the most common domestic flights from Minneapolis-St Paul International using data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Destinations are ranked by total passengers from October 2022 to September 2023.
Read on to find out if your flight patterns are similar to your fellow Minneapolis-St Paul International travelers.
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#20. Salt Lake City International (Salt Lake City, UT)
- Passengers: 259,182 (1.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 256,030
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 1,339
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 683
AevanStock // Shutterstock
2 / 20#19. Tampa International (Tampa, FL)
- Passengers: 259,262 (1.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 186,499
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 71,477
--- #3. Southwest Airlines: 1,279
Orhan Cam // Shutterstock
3 / 20#18. Ronald Reagan Washington National (Washington, DC)
- Passengers: 260,318 (1.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 217,696
--- #2. PSA Airlines: 19,356
--- #3. Envoy Air: 15,471
#17. Newark Liberty International (Newark, NJ)
- Passengers: 271,536 (1.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 109,414
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 97,478
--- #3. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 31,521
#16. Charlotte Douglas International (Charlotte, NC)
marchello74 // Shutterstock
6 / 20#15. Chicago Midway International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 277,858 (1.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 220,170
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 39,675
--- #3. Endeavor Air: 15,165
Thiago Leite // Shutterstock
7 / 20#14. LaGuardia (New York, NY)
- Passengers: 281,605 (1.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 242,377
--- #2. Republic Airline: 38,754
--- #3. Southwest Airlines: 402
Nadezda Murmakova // Shutterstock
8 / 20#13. Southwest Florida International (Fort Myers, FL)
- Passengers: 287,121 (1.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 175,861
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 110,720
--- #3. Southwest Airlines: 540
Vladimir Mucibabic // Shutterstock
9 / 20#12. Detroit Metro Wayne County (Detroit, MI)
- Passengers: 331,241 (2.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 271,427
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 49,878
--- #3. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 9,626
Pete Niesen // Shutterstock
10 / 20#11. San Francisco International (San Francisco, CA)
- Passengers: 334,086 (2.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 227,595
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 66,641
--- #3. United Air Lines: 39,498
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lunamarina // Shutterstock
11 / 20#10. Logan International (Boston, MA)
- Passengers: 372,236 (2.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 295,617
--- #2. JetBlue Airways: 45,204
--- #3. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 31,111
#9. Dallas/Fort Worth International (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
- Passengers: 417,164 (2.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 228,941
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 166,966
--- #3. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 21,120
kan_khampanya // Shutterstock
13 / 20#8. Seattle/Tacoma International (Seattle, WA)
- Passengers: 462,939 (3.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 296,910
--- #2. Alaska Airlines: 110,226
--- #3. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 55,715
Songquan Deng // Shutterstock
14 / 20#7. Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
- Passengers: 487,387 (3.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 334,317
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 146,536
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 3,998
Strike First // Shutterstock
15 / 20#6. Los Angeles International (Los Angeles, CA)
- Passengers: 501,618 (3.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 378,331
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 108,303
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 13,867
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randy andy // Shutterstock
16 / 20#5. Harry Reid International (Las Vegas, NV)
- Passengers: 565,337 (3.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 351,571
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 152,821
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 47,119
#4. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
- Passengers: 601,960 (4.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 512,457
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 88,107
--- #3. Southwest Airlines: 1,185
marchello74 // Shutterstock
18 / 20#3. Chicago O'Hare International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 610,576 (4.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 277,718
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 210,584
--- #3. American Airlines: 44,280
Nate Hovee // Shutterstock
19 / 20#2. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (Phoenix, AZ)
- Passengers: 650,405 (4.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 368,378
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 112,862
--- #3. American Airlines: 82,924
Andrew Zarivny // Shutterstock
20 / 20#1. Denver International (Denver, CO)
- Passengers: 865,609 (5.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 278,463
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 255,371
--- #3. United Air Lines: 190,024
This story features data reporting by Rob Powell, writing by Jaimie Etkin, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 199 metros.
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