What Took the Air Out of MSP-Chicago?

A businessperson looking to fly today might be astonished at the decline of what was once the Twin Cities’ prestige air corridor: MSP-Chicago. Sure, you can still fly to O’Hare and Midway (it now takes nearly two hours, though remains the same distance); but there are half as many flights as a couple decades ago, it’s an even bet you’ll be in a cramped regional jet departing from a far-flung gate, and you’ll learn the flight is too short for a beverage service. It’s also likely to cost you two to three times what it costs to fly to places like Denver or Philly. The era of our very own “shuttle” route is gone. A retired Northwest C-suite exec who TCB spoke to reminisced that in 1993–94 the airline even built a skyway from the MSP T1 parking ramp directly into then-Gold Concourse gate 7, where all O’Hare flights departed from. Known as Fastrak, O’Hare flyers could park, walk in, and clear security opposite their gate. “But it didn’t work,” the exec notes. “There were not enough people, t