The Air Force says eight C-130 Hercules planes will be retired from the Minneapolis base next year. Fears that a Duluth base would close in the cutbacks did not come true.

This is the first time the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is backing the long-term study to see if jet engines are causing high blood pressure, stress or other ailments. The Star Tribune reports MAC has already paid $78 million since 2007 to settle lawsuits and sound-proof homes in Minneapolis, Eagan and Richfield.

Delta Airlines' primary headquarters and hub in Atlanta is flourishing. Not so at other hub cities. Since Delta absorbed Northwest Airlines, the Twin Cities area has lost 3,000 jobs associated with the carrier. In Memphis the number of flights has been nearly halved, pushing up air fares to the second highest in the nation. Behind Cincinnati. Which is also a Delta hub.

The Star Tribune reports the Atlanta-based airline appears to be swapping newer Airbus planes with older Boeing or McDonnell Douglas jets at MSP. Delta told the newspaper, "We always work to deploy the most efficient aircraft to each route, which is critical to the success of our hub at MSP." Some travelers and airport officials have complained the older planes are noisier and more cramped.

International air traffic to and from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport climbed from nearly 1.7 million passengers to roughly 1.8 million between 2003 and 2011, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution.