Paul International Airport Research Articles

Genomic epidemiology reveals the dominance of Hennepin County in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Minnesota from 2020 to 2022.

We analyzed over 22,000 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomes of patient samples tested at Mayo Clinic Laboratories during a 2-year period in the COVID-19 pandemic, which included Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants of concern to examine the roles and relationships of Minnesota virus transmission. We found that Hennepin County, the most populous county, drove the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in the state after including the formation of earlier clades including 20A, 20C, and 20G, as well as variants of concern Alpha and Delta. We also found that Hennepin County was the source for most of the county-to-county introductions after an initial predicted introduction with the virus in early 2020 from an international source, while other counties acted as transmission "sinks." In addition, major policies, such as the end of the lockdown period in 2020 or the end of all restrictions in 2021, did not appear to have an impact on virus diversity across individual counties.

A data analytics framework for anomaly detection in flight operations

In the air transport system, there has been a continuous effort to develop policies, tools, and methodologies that increase and standardize safety levels across the entire commercial aviation market, while also enhancing operational efficiency. Furthermore, there is a current focus on proactive approaches for aviation performance management. Within this context, data mining initiatives such as anomaly detection have become more prominent. Dealing with anomalies is a natural step for achieving the goals regarding operational safety and efficiency, as anomalies are often related to hazardous and inefficient operations. In this work, we propose a systematic flight data analytics framework for anomaly detection in flight operations in order to provide a comprehensive and reusable pipeline for model building, application, and explanation. The solution is designed to be applicable to both online and offline regimes and at multiple scales, while also building on domain-expert analysis. We demonstrate the framework applicability in two scenarios of routine flight operations monitoring considering both airline and air traffic management perspectives. In the first one, the framework is applied to aircraft performance data within an unsupervised learning setting with a density-based clustering approach for anomaly detection in landing operations at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (KMSP). The results are compared with those obtained with exceedance-based methods used in the current practice, revealing the detection of operationally significant anomalies beyond the benchmark. In the second case study, we apply the framework on flight tracking data within a supervised learning setting with the development of an autoencoder classifier for offline anomaly detection in terminal airspace arrival operations at Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport (SBGR). Additionally, supervised learning models are developed for anomaly explanation. The autoencoder classifier was able to detect operationally significant anomalies, while the explanatory models provided novel insights about contributing factors to the anomalies identified. For instance, we learned that anomalous arrival trajectories are more likely to be associated with landing operations on runway 27 under wind scenarios, with an increase in the odds ratio of 62% and 58% for tailwinds and headwinds, respectively. In addition, we also observed a positive association between anomalies and wind gusts situations.

Metropolitan Airports Commission’s vision for customer-centric services and facilities at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Years ago, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) declared its vision is: ‘Providing your best airport experience’. To that end, MAC has been creatively determining strategies for how and where to provide enhanced services for not just the passengers, but for employees as well. By tapping into the passengers using the airport as well as the employees providing the service, the MAC formed a Customer Service Action Council (CSAC) to develop customer training, rewards programmes and a forum for discussing what MSP can do better to meet the needs for all. The MAC also tasked the airport development design teams to incorporate customercentric amenities into construction wherever they can to ease stress, enhance joy and create a facility that is equitable to the endless variety of passengers and employees. These two strategies, coupled with an overall attitude of infusing customer service into all things, has created the opportunities MAC needed to elevate the quality of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) facilities and boost ASQ scores. This paper describes the strategies which, although disrupted with the 2020 COVID-19 turndown, resulted in a pre-COVID four-year run of ASQ’s Best Airport in North America award for airports in the 25−40m passenger category.

Valuation of Noise Pollution and Abatement Policy: Evidence from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Aircraft noise pollution has adverse physical and mental health effects that are capitalized in the affected home values. We contribute to the literature estimating these noise discounts by our novel identification strategy that analyzes the “treatment effect” of two local government subsidized soundproofing initiatives near the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Combining a repeat-sales sample with data on aircraft noise pollution (1990–2014), we find a causal noise discount of around $25,000 per sale of noise-affected, but abatement-ineligible, properties, whereas abatement-eligible homes experience a negligible effect post soundproofing indicating a return on abatement investments as a high as 40% in Minneapolis.

Valuation of Noise Pollution and Abatement Policy: Evidence from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Valuation of Noise Pollution and Abatement Policy: Evidence from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Valuation of Noise Pollution and Abatement Policy: Evidence from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Valuation of Noise Pollution and Abatement Policy: Evidence from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Valuation of Noise Pollution and Abatement Policy: Evidence from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Noise pollution has been shown to impact physical and mental health, and changes in air traffic over densely populated residential areas is an important contributor to this health risk. Albeit significant endogeneity concerns, hedonic models of house sale prices are typically used to quantify the losses that are capitalized into home values resulting from these adverse noise effects. We break new ground on this subject by disentangling the causal impacts of noise on house prices via a novel identification strategy that relies on changes in the exogenously determined noise abatement eligibility of Minneapolis homes. Combining a rich panel dataset of repeat sales with aircraft noise exposure of properties surrounding the Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP) International Airport, we identify the causal noise effects on home values that are abatement eligible from those that are ineligible based on two soundproofing initiatives between 1990 and 2014. We find robust evidence that aircraft noise persistently and significantly reduces the rate of appreciation of abatement ineligible homes by approximately two percentage points per decibel over three years prior to a property's sale, while the effect on eligible homes is fully mitigated. Based on our estimates, we approximate the average losses to owners of abatement ineligible homes around $25,000 per sale and find that the return on abatement investments could be as a high as 40% near MSP.

Towards resilient infrastructure systems for winter weather events: Integrated stochastic economic evaluation of electrically conductive heated airfield pavements

The impact of ice and snow on transportation infrastructure adds significant expense to the U.S. economy through the cost of snow removal, pavement deterioration, and profit lost due to travel delays, particularly for airport travel. Therefore, alternative snow removal practices are needed to reduce the costs and increase resiliency of communities when faced with harsh snowfall conditions. This study investigates the economic viability of electrically conductive concrete (ECON) heated pavement systems (HPS), based on construction and operational experiences with the first full-scale ECON HPS at a U.S. airport (Des Moines International Airport (DSM)). Monte Carlo simulation-based analysis was also conducted to quantify the most significant variables influencing the overall economic viability of ECON HPS. The results of analysis indicate that benefits of implementing this system would outweigh its costs with more than 70% reliability. The results of sensitivity analysis indicate that number of aircraft operations would strongly affect the benefit-cost ratio (BCR). The simulation was also designed and run for the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, MN (MSP), which has six times more enplanements than DSM. The simulation results showed a 92% relative likelihood that the BCR ratio of implementing ECON HPS in MSP would be greater than one.

Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport: Instilling a culture of accessibility for people with disabilities that goes above and beyond requirements

This paper explores the work done at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport to promote outreach and responsiveness to accessibility issues for people with disabilities. In recent years the airport established the Travelers with Disabilities Advisory Committee (TDAC) in an effort to go above and beyond in making the facility as accessible as possible. The paper details the management ideas behind the committee, its composition and the highlights of its work to date. The paper also touches on how accessibility problems are identified, how interaction with the TDAC influenced certain projects and what changes were made to remove barriers and improve airport accessibility. Results are discussed in terms of real-world solutions that have led to improvements for people with disabilities in the areas of transportation, services and communication within the airport.

Assessing NextGen Operational Improvements: A Case of Airspace Complexity and Aircraft Arrival Management System

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) supports multiple operational and technological improvements that enable efficiencies for users and service providers. One of the potential components of the NextGen - the Aircraft Arrival Management System (AAMS) is a tool that jointly optimizes timing of arriving traffic to streamline flight arrivals at congested airports. This study utilizes experimental settings to examine the AAMS effect on the terminal area airspace complexity. During the experiment, the air traffic trajectory data before and after the AAMS implementation were collected at two terminal areas: Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). Then, the trajectory data were used to estimate the Reciprocal Square Metrics (RSM) airspace complexity measures that were compared between the baseline and active AAMS periods. The results of the study suggest that potential implementation of AAMS concepts could reduce terminal area complexity at congested airports.

Details about the I2MTC Venue [Society News

As a General Co-Chair for I <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> MTC 2013, I invite you to join us May 6–9 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul are a great location for our Society's International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> MTC). Easily accessed by direct flights from major cities in North America, Europe, and Asia, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP) International Airport is a short ride by car, light rail, or cab to the Depot Renaissance Hotel. Marriott has converted the 1899 passenger depot for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad into a modern hotel and conference center. The attached Residence Inn has an indoor water park.

Airports and Bicycles

Case studies examined how airport operators addressed bicycle access to their properties and the motivations and obstacles that they faced in light of new policies to integrate bicycles, along with transit and walking, into transportation planning, design, and construction and to increase the bicycle's role in the transportation system. Eight influential elements that emerged from the review of policy documents and research literature were used to guide interviews: governance structure, location, access roads, self-perceived environmental stewardship, spending restrictions on nonaviation transportation improvements, proximity to transit, policies and mandates to reduce environmental impacts, and land use constraints. Seven cases were selected on the basis of their inclusion in studies on key aspects of airport ground access: Oakland International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport, California; Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Washington; Boston Logan International Airport, Massachusetts; Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, Minnesota; and Portland International Airport, Oregon, an exemplar recommended by several informants. The discussion was limited to employee bicycle access, the focus of airport operators that invested in programs to reduce single-occupancy-vehicle travel at airports. During aggregation of the interviews, replicable approaches for improving bicycle access were identified, as were examples of innovative funding for multimodal access that used revenues generated through passenger facilities charges. The following areas are suggested for additional research: commute needs of airport employees, mode choice for ground access, and airport operator costs and benefits of bicycle access investments.

Airport sustainability with a positive impact on the bottom line: The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport experience

Airports’ interest in sustainable or green initiatives has grown around the world. An effective approach should include quantifiable onsite environmental enhancements rather than simply focusing on purchasing conservation credits. Done correctly, sustainable projects can benefit the bottom line rather than result in additional costs. Minnesota is located in the upper Midwest region of the USA. Home of the Mississippi River headwaters, it is also known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Public policy has historically favoured protection of natural resources, and it is no accident that this state's largest airport has also had an aggressive focus on environmental issues. The Airports Council International North America defines sustainability as ‘a holistic approach to managing an airport so as to ensure the integrity of the economic viability, operational efficiency, natural resource conservation and social responsibility of the airport’. This philosophy can serve to describe the approach that Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) took to its recent US$3bn expansion programme. Documented air and water quality improvements were made at MSP even as significant infrastructure growth took place. A long-term partnership with local utilities has yielded impressive rebate dollars and resulted in additional efficiencies that now shave US$1.04m from annual electrical and natural gas bills. Further improvements are being considered in the areas of lighting systems, low-emission ground service equipment, power generation and other key areas.

Taxi! Role-Play Two

Sold as a set, this role-playing series encourages students to clarify different points of view when in leadership roles (UVA-OB-0921, 0922, and 0923). Before seeking solutions, students must get a clear, comprehensive picture of the problems at hand. Using the want-got-gap model works well. The material affords students an opportunity to develop persuasion techniques. The exercise involves three roles: 1) An executive with the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who must ensure that taxi companies maintain a high level of quality customer service; within the past year the commission has received close to 4,800 complaints about taxi drivers who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol; 2) One of 900 Islamic Somali taxi drivers whose mosque leader ruled it was against Islamic law to carry passengers with alcohol; 3) A passenger who, after a long journey, just wants to get home with a few bottles of wine, but struggles to find a taxi driver who will take him or her home.

Challenging the Contours: Critical Cartography, Local Knowledge, and the Public

As with many environmental issues, conflicts over airport noise are often grounded in the different experiences and knowledges of those who measure it and those who suffer its effects. The ways that airport neighbors challenge noise maps reflect the critical cartography literature, which does not take the truth of maps for granted but instead considers the political and other subjectivities behind their construction. At the same time, work in science and technology studies shows that conflicts between local residents and state officials and/or scientists are in part based on their different types of knowledge about a place, with state-centered scientific knowledge generally considered to override local knowledges. This paper brings together these two literatures in an analysis of conflicts over airport noise at Minneapolis–St Paul International Airport to show how members of the public construct their own critical cartographies.

Taxi! Role-Play Three

Sold as a set, this role-playing series encourages students to clarify different points of view when in leadership roles (UVA-OB-0921, 0922, and 0923). Before seeking solutions, students must get a clear, comprehensive picture of the problems at hand. Using the want-got-gap model works well. The material affords students an opportunity to develop persuasion techniques. The exercise involves three roles: 1) An executive with the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who must ensure that taxi companies maintain a high level of quality customer service; within the past year the commission has received close to 4,800 complaints about taxi drivers who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol; 2) One of 900 Islamic Somali taxi drivers whose mosque leader ruled it was against Islamic law to carry passengers with alcohol; 3) A passenger who, after a long journey, just wants to get home with a few bottles of wine, but struggles to find a taxi driver who will take him or her home.

Taxi! Role-Play One

Sold as a set, this role-playing series encourages students to clarify different points of view when in leadership roles (UVA-OB-0921, 0922, and 0923). Before seeking solutions, students must get a clear, comprehensive picture of the problems at hand. Using the want-got-gap model works well. The material affords students an opportunity to develop persuasion techniques. The exercise involves three roles: 1) An executive with the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who must ensure that taxi companies maintain a high level of quality customer service; within the past year the commission has received close to 4,800 complaints about taxi drivers who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol; 2) One of 900 Islamic Somali taxi drivers whose mosque leader ruled it was against Islamic law to carry passengers with alcohol; 3) A passenger who, after a long journey, just wants to get home with a few bottles of wine, but struggles to find a taxi driver who will take him or her home.

Design and Construction of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Precast Concrete Tunnel System

The 11.6 mile (18.7 km) long Hiawatha Light Rail Transit Line is the first of its kind built in Minnesota and one of the state's largest public works projects at a cost of $676 million, second only to the multi-billion dollar expansion of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Twin precast concrete tunnels run parallel beneath the heart of one of the nation's busiest airports for a total distance of 7400 ft (2250 m). Formidable subsurface challenges, concern for water infiltration, and aviation related restrictions led to the selection of the $110 million bored precast concrete tunnel lining system. Each tunnel ring was constructed with seven bolted precast concrete segments with compression gaskets ensuring watertight connections as a backgrouting operation maintained continuous ground support. A custom-built 70,000 sq ft (6500 m 2 ) precast production facility housed a carousel assembly production area with 13 stations, including those for welding, curing, and gasket installation.

Relationship between low-frequency aircraft noise and annoyance due to rattle and vibration.

A near-replication of a study of the annoyance of rattle and vibration attributable to aircraft noise [Fidell et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106, 1408-1415 (1999)] was conducted in the vicinity of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). The findings of the current study were similar to those reported earlier with respect to the types of objects cited as sources of rattle in homes, frequencies of notice of rattle, and the prevalence of annoyance due to aircraft noise-induced rattle. A reliably lower prevalence rate of annoyance (but not of complaints) with rattle and vibration was noted among respondents living in homes that had been treated to achieve a 5-dB improvement in A-weighted noise reduction than among respondents living in untreated homes. This difference is not due to any substantive increase in low-frequency noise reduction of acoustically treated homes, but may be associated with installation of nonrattling windows. Common interpretations of the prevalence of a consequential degree of annoyance attributable to low-frequency aircraft noise may be developed from the combined results of the present and prior studies.

Low-frequency aircraft noise and its effects on residential land use

Low-frequency aircraft noise is most noticeable to the rear and side of aircraft that are taking off and are on or near to the ground. Recently concluded at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport (MSP), this study investigated levels and effects of low-frequency noise in residential areas. The study built on work conducted at other airports. It reached five significant findings: (1) the primary effect of low-frequency noise annoyance caused by noise-induced rattling of windows, doors and furnishings; (2) the best predictor of annoyance was the average of maximum levels in the 25–80-Hz bands (called the low-frequency sound level, LFSL); (3) the existing residential sound insulation program at MSP does not measurably change the low-frequency noise reduction (LFNR), but it reduces the annoyance as much as a 5-dB reduction in low-frequency noise level; (4) the maximum practical level of noise in new single-family residences is approximately 25 dB, about 10 dB higher than the LFNR found in the typical untreated residence, and (5) the maximum exterior LFSL compatible with residential use is 87 dB.