MSP hit by storms, maintenance

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport is running short on breathing room this April, with spring storms and a runway closure squeezing one of Delta Air Lines’ busiest hubs. (mspairport.com) (faa.gov) The Metropolitan Airports Commission said on April 14, 2025 that Minneapolis–Saint Paul would close its south parallel runway in spring and late summer for safety improvements and other airfield projects. The airport says those construction projects are tied to safety, security and operations. (mspairport.com 1) (mspairport.com 2) The Federal Aviation Administration’s daily air traffic report on April 8, 2026 warned that gusty winds could delay flights in Minneapolis. Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources said back-to-back storms hit the state from April 1 through April 4, bringing rain, sleet, freezing rain, thunderstorms and heavy snow. (faa.gov) (dnr.state.mn.us) Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources said the Twin Cities airport recorded a 61 mile-per-hour wind gust in early April. Delta said on March 13 that it had canceled some Midwest flying ahead of severe weather and was still managing a slowed restart at its Minneapolis–Saint Paul hub on March 15. (dnr.state.mn.us) (news.delta.com) That combination matters at Minneapolis–Saint Paul because Delta uses the airport as a core domestic hub. Delta says it runs more than 330 peak-day departures from Minneapolis–Saint Paul to 124 destinations worldwide. (news.delta.com) (sec.gov) The airport is also handling more travelers than it did a year ago. The Metropolitan Airports Commission said Minneapolis–Saint Paul served 37.2 million passengers in 2024, up 6.9% from 2023 and within 6.2% of its 2019 record. (metroairports.org) (mymspconnect.com) When a hub loses runway capacity in bad weather, delays can spread beyond one city because connecting passengers, aircraft and crews are all moving through the same bank of flights. The Federal Aviation Administration says its daily report is used for planning arrival and departure delays, ground stops and airport closures. (faa.gov 1) (faa.gov 2) FlightAware’s cancellation board showed Minneapolis–Saint Paul with 9 canceled departures and 7 canceled arrivals, plus 15 delayed departures and 14 delayed arrivals at the time its page was crawled. Those totals can change through the day, but they show the airport was already absorbing disruptions on top of the construction squeeze. (flightaware.com) (faa.gov) Delta told customers in March to keep checking flight status as Minneapolis operations recovered and warned that additional schedule adjustments were possible. For travelers this weekend, the practical picture is simpler: one busy hub, fewer runway options, and weather that has not stayed settled for long. (news.delta.com) (weather.gov)