Would Have Employed NextGen Procedures, Move Opposed By Residents

The FAA has decided not to implement NextGen procedures at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (KMSP) after the Metropolitan Airports Commission requested that the procedures be put in place only for selected runways. The FAA said that partial implementation would be "unacceptable."

The Airports Commission asked for the partial implementation after residents complained about the potential for noise under the plan. The departure corridors would have been narrowed over the neighborhoods of Edina and south Minneapolis, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The FAA said last week in a letter to the Airports Commission that partial implementation could create "catastrophic" or "hazardous" risks to people on the ground and in the air. The agency said implementation of the NextGen procedures is an all-or-nothing approach, and left the door open to reconsider the implementation in the future.

The next opportunity for consideration in the Twin Cities would likely be in 2015 or 2016, according to Airports Commissioner Rick King. “If there’s a line of airports to be implemented … we dropped back in the line,” he said. “They were clearly going to go where decisions are easier.”

But FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said there is "no plan to reconsider" implementing the procedures at KMSP.

FMI: http://metroairports.org/Airport-Authority.aspx