Airport privatization set to take off at Legislature; MAC-Delta deal grounded

As we reported last week, the bathroom stall made famous by former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig may not be for sale, but it looks like the airport it’s in soon could be. An effort to privatize the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is ready for takeoff in the new session of the state Legislature. At the same time, the government commission that owns the public facility has grounded a deal to let Delta Air Lines out of Northwest Airlines’ obligations in Minnesota.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission told staff Tuesday to renegotiate a draft deal that would ease a repayment requirement of $245 million bond debt under promises Northwest made to keep its headquarters here, the Pioneer Press reports. Now that Delta owns Northwest and intends to break that promise, the MAC wants to exact new pledges on money and jobs — but how much and for how long is at issue.

Meanwhile, in the legislative session that started Tuesday, elected representatives will take up schemes to make money through airport privatization inspired by a lucrative, 99-year deal at Chicago’s Midway Airport. But, writes Conrad deFiebre at Minnesota 2020 (via), there’s a more local lesson for legislators in the sad tale of the Twin Cities’ once-public transit system that private owners (including the just-deceased Carl Pohlad) drove into the ground four decades ago, necessitating a new public bailout.