Flight Report

This dataset covers two days of ADS-B traffic at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP/KMSP), spanning January 21-22, 2026, collected on the 64th anniversary of the airport's main terminal opening. The capture logged 1,528 total flights across 499 unique aircraft, with 749 arrivals, 755 departures, and 24 touch-and-goes. Operations ran continuously across the full 24-hour cycle, with the quietest window falling between 01:00 and 04:00 CST. The peak hour was 16:00 CST with 134 flights, and the average across all hours was 31.8 flights per hour. The busiest morning departure push concentrated between 08:00 and 10:00 CST, while late-evening activity tapered sharply after 22:00. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) was the top route by volume with 54 total movements (27 arrivals, 27 departures), followed by Denver (DEN) at 42 and Atlanta (ATL) at 32. Chicago Midway (MDW), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), and Phoenix (PHX) each logged 27 total movements. Approach directions concentrated heavily from the southeast quadrant, with SE (129 approaches) and ESE (110) leading, while departure headings showed a similar southeast bias at 139 and 98 respectively. The shortest recorded flight connected to Saint Paul Downtown Holman Field (STP) at 10.6 nm and 8.6 minutes. The longest arrival covered 2,981.2 nm over 355.5 minutes. The highest-altitude flight reached 48,150 feet on an arrival from Vero Beach Regional (VRB). The altitude distribution shows two distinct concentration zones across the dataset's 1,071,358 ADS-B position points. The lower cluster peaks in the 1,000-2,000 foot band (88,433 points), reflecting approach and departure activity close to the field. The upper cluster centers around 33,000-35,000 feet, with the 34,000-35,000 foot band recording 48,421 points, the highest count in cruise altitudes. Average groundspeed across all tracked legs was 309 knots, with a maximum of 660 knots. Total distance flown across all legs reached 1,053,321 nautical miles, with an average leg distance of 689.3 nm and an average duration of 120.1 minutes. Of 499 unique aircraft, 483 were US-registered, with 7 Canadian and 7 carrying unresolved country codes.