KMSP · MSP · Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota
Planes near MSP: live flight tracking at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (MSP / KMSP) serves Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. An upper-midwest hub where winter operations are visible on the map for months.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The frame is fixed on the field; tap or click an aircraft to open its full details.
Nothing here is filtered. Military aircraft, aircraft in the FAA's LADD privacy programme and aircraft using temporary addresses all appear the same way anything else does. Open the full map to pan, zoom and switch layers.
Movements we watched happen
Snapshot written . This page refreshes by itself while it is open.
These are transitions the receiver network actually observed at MSP, each with the time it was seen. Nothing here is guessed from a timetable.
Why there may be fewer departures than arrivals
A departure is only counted once a receiver has seen the aircraft on the ground here first. That guard stops us inventing takeoffs for aircraft that merely flew overhead, and it costs us real ones: hearing an aircraft sitting on an airport surface needs a receiver with line of sight to that surface, which is the hardest reception there is. An arrival only needs the aircraft to have been seen airborne, and airborne coverage is very good.
So at any airport without a clear view of the ground, this list will show fewer departures than actually happened. If you see more arrivals than departures below, read that as a fact about where the antennas are, not about the airport.
| Time | Movement | Flight | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:58 UTC | Arrival | SCX606 | B738 · N836SY |
| 02:56 UTC | Departure | SKW4154 | CRJ9 · N161PQ |
| 02:56 UTC | Departure | DAL2146 | A321 · N395DZ |
| 02:56 UTC | Arrival | SWA1342 | B737 · N220WN |
| 02:55 UTC | Departure | SKW4014 | CRJ9 · N824SK |
| 02:55 UTC | Departure | SKW4291 | CRJ7 · N719EV |
| 02:54 UTC | Arrival | FFT4746 | A20N · N382FR |
| 02:53 UTC | Departure | SKW3834 | E75L · N259SY |
| 02:52 UTC | Departure | DAL2391 | A321 · N331DN |
| 02:52 UTC | Arrival | DAL402 | B739 · N896DN |
| 02:51 UTC | Departure | SKW3907 | E75L · N241SY |
| 02:49 UTC | Arrival | DAL2873 | A320 · N350NA |
Showing the most recent 12 of 36 in the current recording window.
What appears to be inbound and outbound right now
Where the aircraft in range right now are most likely heading, worked out from their callsigns rather than watched happening.
How this list is built
We take the aircraft the receiver network can currently hear, read the callsign each one is broadcasting, and look that callsign up in an index of the routes it has actually flown before. An entry means this callsign's most commonly observed route ends at MSP. That is a good guide to where a flight is going. It is not a flight plan: nobody has told us today's routing, and we would rather say that than dress an inference up as a schedule.
The consequences are worth knowing. A diversion or an unusual routing will be listed wrong. A charter, a positioning leg, or any flight the index has not seen before is missing entirely. You will occasionally see an aircraft here sitting on the ground on the far side of a continent, which is the method showing its working rather than hiding it. There are no scheduled times or arrival estimates on this page because neither can be computed honestly from what we hold.
For gates, delays and cancellations the airline and the airport are authoritative. This page is for what is actually in the air.
Inbound nearest 20 of 30
| Flight | From | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCX606B738 · N836SY | PhoenixKPHX / PHX | on the ground | 16 kt | 0 nmESE of the field |
| DAL2285BCS1 · N135DQ | HartfordKBDL / BDL | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmNE of the field |
| DAL2617BCS3 · N316DU | HoustonKIAH / IAH | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmNE of the field |
| DAL1542B739 · N834DN | Las VegasKLAS / LAS | 1,425 ft | 140 kt | 3 nmNW of the field |
| SCX1982B738 · N826SY | DetroitKDTW / DTW | 3,175 ft | 190 kt | 8 nmWNW of the field |
| DAL605A319 · N333NB | Mexico CityMMMX / MEX | 16,575 ft | 355 kt | 35 nmSSW of the field |
| DAL1220A321 · N126DN | DenverKDEN / DEN | 36,975 ft | 483 kt | 169 nmWSW of the field |
| SCX3084B738 · N8111A | Cincinnati / CovingtonKCVG / CVG | 30,000 ft | 432 kt | 190 nmESE of the field |
| DAL377B753 · N589NW | AnchoragePANC / ANC | 24,025 ft | 453 kt | 195 nmNW of the field |
| AAL3149B738 · N951NN | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | 35,000 ft | 416 kt | 253 nmSSW of the field |
| DAL2820A321 · N101DQ | CharlotteKCLT / CLT | 29,975 ft | 421 kt | 328 nmESE of the field |
| DAL949A21N · N587DT | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 35,000 ft | 535 kt | 439 nmWNW of the field |
| SWA1579B38M · N8802Q | ChicagoKMDW / MDW | 38,000 ft | 428 kt | 454 nmSSW of the field |
| SCX426B739 · N903SY | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | 38,000 ft | 497 kt | 495 nmWSW of the field |
| UAL1331B739 · N69840 | NewarkKEWR / EWR | 36,000 ft | 412 kt | 510 nmE of the field |
| AAL2176B738 · N849NN | CharlotteKCLT / CLT | 36,000 ft | 417 kt | 520 nmSE of the field |
| UAL667B738 · N37253 | DenverKDEN / DEN | on the ground | 0 kt | 590 nmWSW of the field |
| FFT1292N651FR | DenverKDEN / DEN | on the ground | 12 kt | 591 nmWSW of the field |
| ASA527B739 · N266AK | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 35,000 ft | 531 kt | 601 nmWNW of the field |
| SCX396N852SY | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 37,000 ft | 506 kt | 647 nmW of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 60
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAL2418B739 · N804DN | SpokaneKGEG / GEG | on the ground | 1 kt | 0 nmENE of the field |
| DAL1657BCS1 · N110DU | Kansas CityKMCI / MCI | on the ground | 2 kt | 0 nmNE of the field |
| DAL2130BCS1 · N126DU | ChicagoKORD / ORD | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmNNW of the field |
| DAL1711BCS3 · N315DU | Grand RapidsKGRR / GRR | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmNE of the field |
| DAL1609BCS1 · N108DQ | St LouisKSTL / STL | on the ground | 22 kt | 1 nmNW of the field |
| SKW4332CRJ7 · N607SK | Grand ForksKGFK / GFK | on the ground | 23 kt | 1 nmNE of the field |
| EDV4920CRJ9 · N146PQ | AppletonKATW / ATW | on the ground | 19 kt | 1 nmENE of the field |
| DAL2594BCS3 · N307DU | PhiladelphiaKPHL / PHL | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmENE of the field |
| DAL2146A321 · N395DZ | San DiegoKSAN / SAN | 4,175 ft | 222 kt | 6 nmSW of the field |
| SKW3834E75L · N259SY | BismarckKBIS / BIS | 13,900 ft | 309 kt | 12 nmNNW of the field |
| SKW4291CRJ7 · N719EV | BemidjiKBJI / BJI | 10,850 ft | 311 kt | 12 nmNE of the field |
| SKW4014CRJ9 · N824SK | OmahaKOMA / OMA | 9,150 ft | 288 kt | 13 nmSSW of the field |
| DAL2391A321 · N331DN | PortlandKPDX / PDX | 12,850 ft | 339 kt | 15 nmNW of the field |
| SKW3907E75L · N241SY | DuluthKDLH / DLH | 14,900 ft | 380 kt | 31 nmNNE of the field |
| DAL1392BCS1 · N111NG | ClevelandKCLE / CLE | 20,500 ft | 437 kt | 51 nmESE of the field |
| DAL2089A321 · N114DN | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 23,500 ft | 438 kt | 54 nmWNW of the field |
| DAL260B752 · N822DX | ReykjavíkBIKF / KEF | 22,800 ft | 468 kt | 69 nmENE of the field |
| UPS559B763 · N360UP | LouisvilleKSDF / SDF | 33,550 ft | 542 kt | 83 nmSE of the field |
| CSB185N754CS | Cincinnati / CovingtonKCVG / CVG | 37,000 ft | 520 kt | 171 nmSE of the field |
| DAL116A339 · N435DX | CopenhagenEKCH / CPH | 32,325 ft | 494 kt | 178 nmENE of the field |
About Minneapolis-Saint Paul International
- ICAO codeKMSP
- IATA codeMSP
- ServesMinneapolis and Saint Paul
- RegionMinnesota, United States
- Coordinates44.880°N, 93.222°W
Minneapolis-Saint Paul sits between the two cities it serves, on flat ground with the Mississippi close by. Its northern latitude makes it a natural staging point for traffic heading over the pole or across Canada, and a wide view here frequently catches long-haul flights passing well overhead on their way somewhere else entirely.
Winter is when this field is most legible. Deicing and snow clearance produce long periods of aircraft sitting still on the ground with live transponders, and departure banks that stretch and compress in ways they never do in July.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
MSP is the IATA code: three letters, the one printed on a
boarding pass and a baggage tag, assigned for commercial purposes and reused across
the world without any geographic logic.
KMSP is the ICAO code: four letters, used by air traffic
control, flight planning systems and trackers like this one. Its first
letter, K, marks
the contiguous United States, because ICAO allocates the code space by region.
The callsigns in the lists above are a third thing again. A callsign is what the crew typed into the transponder for this leg, so it changes flight by flight, while the registration and the 24-bit hex address stay with the airframe. When a callsign and a registration disagree, the registration is usually the more reliable of the two.
How to read the numbers
Altitude is pressure altitude, which is what the aircraft's air data system reads with a standard pressure setting. It is not height above the ground and it is not always the altitude the crew is flying to. Near Minneapolis and Saint Paul that gap is most obvious on approach, when a tracker can show a figure that does not match what is on the flight deck.
Ground speed is speed across the earth, not through the air. A strong tailwind can add a hundred knots or more to it without the aircraft flying any faster, which is why two aircraft at the same level going opposite ways can show wildly different numbers. Track is the direction of travel over the ground, which is not the direction the nose is pointing when there is any crosswind at all.
Aircraft go missing from this map for reasons that have nothing to do with the aircraft. Reception is line of sight, so terrain and distance cut it off abruptly; a good deal of light aviation in the United States broadcasts on 978 MHz rather than 1090 MHz; and plenty of aircraft, including gliders and older light types, carry no ADS-B at all and are not required to. How ADS-B works covers all of that properly.
Other airports on the map
The nearest fields with their own live page:
