Staff at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport (MSP) and general aviation airports in the Twin Cities area are preparing for Super Bowl 52, which takes place on February 4, and the record number of travelers the game will bring.
Employees of dozens of airport-based organizations and staff from the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) – which owns and operates MSP and six general aviation airports – have worked for months to prepare for game week.
Since February 2017, 29 committees coordinated by the MAC have met monthly to prepare for the Super Bowl. The committees have focused on security, signage, transportation, airfield operations, volunteer coordination and dozens of other priorities to give visitors the best, safest experience possible.
Phil Burke, MSP’s director of operations, said, “Careful coordination among many organizations is absolutely critical to ensuring travelers have a great airport experience. It’s a group effort, and representatives from all parts of our airport community have been very engaged in planning over the past year.
“The Metropolitan Airports Commission operates one of the largest airport systems in the nation, and the positive relationships we’ve built with our airport business partners will prove indispensable as we work together to exceed travelers’ expectations.”
MAC has built a distributed antenna system, featuring approximately 1,000 new antennae, that gives the airport six times more capacity than it had previously to carry voice and data for mobile phone users. MAC, in partnership with Boingo, has also increased public wi-fi capacity by 33%.
Security-badged employees and volunteers at MSP are working more than 1,600 four-hour shifts to greet visitors and answer questions during the week of the Super Bowl. The MSP greeters will be wearing vests that identify them as go-to sources of information.