It is the purpose of sections 473.601 to 473.679 to:

Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes 473.602

  • Aeronautics: means the transportation by aircraft, the operation, construction, repair, or maintenance of aircraft, aircraft power plants and accessories, including the repair, packing and maintenance of parachutes; the design, establishment, construction, operation, improvement, repair, or maintenance of airports, restricted landing areas, or other air navigation facilities and air instruction, and powers incidental thereto. See Minnesota Statutes 473.121
  • Airport: means any locality, either of land or water, including intermediate landing fields, which is used or intended to be used for the landing and take off of aircraft, whether or not facilities are provided for the shelter, servicing, or repair of aircraft, or for receiving or discharging passengers or cargo, and also includes any facility used in, available for use in, or designed for use in, aid of air navigation, including, but without limitation, landing areas, lights, any apparatus or equipment for disseminating weather information, for signaling, for radio-directional finding, or for radio or other electrical communication, and any other structure or mechanism having a similar purpose for guiding or controlling flight in the air or the landing and take off of aircraft, and also includes, but without limitation, access roads, parking areas, railroad siding facilities, such land contiguous or not as may be required for installations necessary for safe and efficient operation, buildings, structures, hangars, shops and any personal property usually used in connection with the operations of such airports, including specifically, but not exclusively, snow removal or impacting equipment, fire and ambulance equipment, motor vehicles and equipment for buildings, structures, hangars, and shops. See Minnesota Statutes 473.121
  • area: means the area over which the Metropolitan Council has jurisdiction, including only the counties of Anoka; Carver; Dakota excluding the cities of Northfield and Cannon Falls; Hennepin excluding the cities of Hanover and Rockford; Ramsey; Scott excluding the city of New Prague; and Washington. See Minnesota Statutes 473.121
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • council: means the Metropolitan Council established by section 473. See Minnesota Statutes 473.121
  • state: extends to and includes the District of Columbia and the several territories. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44

(1) promote the public welfare and national security; serve public interest, convenience, and necessity; promote air navigation and transportation, international, national, state, and local, in and through this state; promote the efficient, safe, and economical handling of air commerce; assure the inclusion of this state in national and international programs of air transportation; and to those ends to develop the full potentialities of the metropolitan area in this state as an aviation center, and to correlate that area with all aviation facilities in the entire state so as to provide for the most economical and effective use of aeronautic facilities and services in that area;

(2) assure the residents of the metropolitan area of the minimum environmental impact from air navigation and transportation, and to that end provide for noise abatement, control of airport area land use, and other protective measures; and

(3) promote the overall goals of the state’s environmental policies and minimize the public’s exposure to noise and safety hazards around airports.

To achieve these purposes, the corporation shall cooperate with and assist the Metropolitan Council, the federal government, the commissioner of transportation of this state, the Pollution Control Agency, and others engaged in aeronautics or the promotion and regulation of aeronautics and shall seek to coordinate its activities with the aeronautical activities of these bodies.