As air travelers return to the skies in numbers close to pre-pandemic levels, those who park at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will pay more beginning Jan. 1.
A $2 daily price hike for airport parking ramps was unanimously approved Monday by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which operates MSP. The board attributed its decision to inflation and the rising cost of operating and maintaining its parking facilities.
The daily price increase affects parking at Terminals 1 and 2 and at the Quick Ride Ramp, which will reopen in 2023. The cost to use Terminal 1 valet parking will increase by $5 a day.
"Historically we raise rates every other year," said Jeff Nawrocki, MAC's assistant director of MSP operations/landside, at a commission meeting earlier this month. The most recent increase took effect on Jan. 1 this year.
Parking proceeds — which are expected to reach nearly $113 million next year — account for a quarter of MAC's total revenue and are used to run the airport and pay for capital projects. The new increase will generate an additional $8.3 million annually.
MAC officials said 16 airports across the United States responded to their recent query about parking rates. Thirteen said they plan to increase their parking rates between $1 and $3 an hour, including airports in Phoenix, Denver and Seattle.
The Atlanta and Salt Lake City airports — which like MSP are Delta Air Lines hubs — were not among those raising rates, although officials in Detroit are considering an increase, Nawrocki said.
MAC officials also looked at what privately operated parking facilities offsite were charging and discovered their prices were similar to the Quick Ride Ramp's rate.
The new rate for the Gold, Green, Blue, Red, Silver, Pink and Brown ramps at Terminal 1 will be $30 a day. The daily cost to park at Terminal 2 will be $23.
The least expensive option — at $19 a day— will be the Quick Ride Ramp, where passengers can park and take a free shuttle to either terminal. The popular ramp, located off Hwy. 5 at the Post Road exit, will reopen Jan. 1 after being closed since 2020 following the COVID-induced drop in air travel.
Under the new rate system, Terminal 1 and 2 customers will pay $5 for the first hour parked and then $3 for each additional hour until the daily maximum is reached, according to MAC spokesman Jeff Lea.
The rate at the Quick Ride Ramp will be $3 per hour until reaching the $19 daily maximum. After the end of a 24-hour period, the hourly fee structure kicks in again, Lea said.
Travelers can pre-book their parking on the MAC's website and get a $2 daily discount.
"This is always a topic that is of keen interest to me," said MAC Commissioner Patti Gartland, who represents the St. Cloud area. Though she supported the increase, she said she was concerned that travelers using the lower-cost Quick Ride Ramp will experience a higher percentage increase than those parking at Terminals 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, additional work on the Silver Ramp — widely heralded for its shimmering design — is not yet complete. MAC officials revealed in April that the two-year-old $245 million ramp at Terminal 1 needed additional work to correct flooding and potential cracking issues. The budget for the fixes was about $3.3 million, of which $3 million has been spent so far, Lea said.
The Colorado firm hired to perform the work, PCL Construction Services Inc., sued the MAC in Hennepin County District Court in April, charging breach of contract and warranties, among other claims. According to court documents, PCL and its subcontractors were "significantly delayed for reasons outside its control" during its work on the Silver Ramp, partly because of the "acts of the MAC and its agents." The case was dismissed after both sides agreed to arbitration, which is still pending.
