Good news for travelers out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this week as Delta Airlines - who uses MSP as one of their hubs in the U.S. - has begun summertime nonstop flights to two major European destinations.
Thursday night, the first nonstop flight from MSP to Copenhagen, Denmark left the Twin Cities, and on Friday night the first nonstop flight to Rome, Italy will depart.
The departing flight Thursday night came with a big celebration which will also be the case at the departing gate Friday night for the Rome flight for those lucky first passengers.
Delta Chief External Affairs Officer Peter Carter joined Tom Hauser on the WCCO Morning News and said the demand the airline is seeing has encouraged them to add the flights.
"We know folks in Minneapolis love to travel to Europe, and this summer is clearly going to be a good summer to go to Europe from MSP," says Carter.
He adds demand is certainly back to those pre-pandemic levels.
"At MSP, this schedule, this summer schedule, will represent Delta's largest European schedule from Minneapolis, which we're pretty proud to have align with our centennial year," says Carter. "We're celebrating throughout the system, our 100 years as an airline, and of course Minneapolis is really a second home to us with 7,500 of our people employed there. And, you know, Northwest obviously was based there and so we consider it a second hometown and it's great that the travel is back the way it is because it allows us to add flights like Copenhagen and and Rome."
The Rome flight uses the Delta A330-300 aircraft, which Carter notes is their best product including their super plush (and super expensive) Delta One Suites and even more of their Premium Select seats which Carter says their customers "love."
"It's really our best product which we're bringing into Minneapolis," he said.
Airport officials say the new routes bring the total number of non-stop international flights out of MSP to 35.
The Copenhagen flights leave MSP on Thursday and Saturday and return to Minneapolis on Wednesday and Friday. Round trip prices vary from about $700 later in the summer with most currently falling in the $1,100 range.
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There are more options for Rome which Carter says will leave MSP four times per week. We found prices later in the summer for $800-$900 with many other options in the $1,200-$1,400 range.
If you're hoping to get into those lie-flat seats in Delta One, you'll need a lot more money. We found one flight for $3,700 but most were well above $7,000 round trip.
If you have a large stash of miles or credit card points, you'll have some luck finding good redemption value using a Delta partner airline like KLM/Air France or Virgin Atlantic to book Delta One.