Minnesota Council of Airports (MCOA)
644 Bayfield Street, Suite #120
St. Paul, MN 55107

MCOA June Board meeting… convened at MNDOT, 9:30 AM, June 16th.  The Conference program planning committee met at 8:15 AM to review and critique the 2010 conference in Duluth and begin initial planning for the 2011 conference in Grand Rapids. The committee agreed
the conference in Duluth was one of the best and that the City of Duluth was an outstanding host.
The committee reviewed the conference planning challenges that we will face in Grand Rapids and they will meet at Sugar Lake Lodge on July 16th at 10:00 AM for their preliminary on-site visit.  The MCOA Strategic planning committee met after the Board meeting and  began discussing goals and visions for developing a plan for MCOA to meet  the demands of the future.  We will keep you informed as the strategic plan develops and will be counting on your input throughout the process.  The next MCOA Board meeting is scheduled for August 13, 2010, 9:30 AM, at MNDOT. 

Duluth Receives $5 million for Airport Projects... U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and Congressman Jim Oberstar announced today that the Department of Transportation has awarded DLH $5 million to construct a terminal building and improve the airport's infrastructure.  The $5 million will go towards completing the second of the project's three phases.  The first phase was completed last year and resulted in the creation of 136 jobs.  The project will be completed in 2012, resulting in an additional 200 construction jobs with no additional cost to local taxpayers..

Senate Passes One-month FAA Extension… to August 1st and the short term extension will give lawmakers another month to attempt to finalize a multi-year FAA reauthorization bill. Before finishing a multi-year bill, committee leaders will need to resolve their differences on PFC's, ARFF, a FedEx labor provision and other controversial matters.

Delta Sells Mesaba and Compass Subsidiaries... Under the terms of the agreements, Mesaba and Compass will continue to serve Delta under long-term contracts and their headquarters will remain in Minneapolis-St. Paul with current presidents John Spandjers and Tim Campbell, respectively, leading the airlines under new ownership.  Delta said the structure of the Mesaba and Compass transactions provides for long-term competitive cost structures at both airlines, as well as incentive to reward Mesaba and Compass for operational excellence and cost improvements.