Duluth International Airport braces for travelers this holiday season

AAA estimated over 100 million people will be traveling over the next two weeks. The Duluth International Airport (DLH) is bracing for higher volumes of passengers arriving to the northland this week.

Natalie Baker, the Communications and Marketing Director with the Duluth International Airport says they made preparations.

“So we’re doing everything we can to keep our airport safe and ready for operations. We’ve got a wonderful operations crew over on our air side, making sure that our taxiways and runways are staying clear of snow and ready for aircraft.”

Baker also recommends people should get to the airport two hours early. That will ensure plenty of time to check bags, get through security, and make board the plane.

“I know TSA in general has been expecting it to be one of the busiest travel years on record. We’re keeping that in mind for our passengers who will be traveling through Duluth International over the holiday season,” Baker said. “We just recommend getting here about an hour and a half to two hours in advance. Holiday travel season will run through January 2nd. We’re expecting higher passenger volumes through this year end travel.”

Not only is the DLH prepared for incoming visitors this holiday season they have upcoming projects next year. At the moment the Air Traffic Control Tower is one of the oldest towers at any airport in the nation. Baker says the Duluth International Airport will be asking the Minnesota Legislature for more funds in 2025.

“We’re thankful to have received $11 million in federal funding for this project so far. We’ll be requesting $14 million from the state legislature this session,” Baker said. “We’re also continuing our construction on Taxiway Alpha. It’s a multi-year construction project, so we’ll be entering into next year’s phases of construction and the following years, and the next year’s design phase as well.”

Also more information about the Air Traffic Control Tower, we have another story available here.