Airports CEO Jeff Hamiel to retire after 30 years

The longtime CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission announced today he'll retire in May after more than 30 years on the job.

Jeff Hamiel submitted a letter to the MAC today announcing his retirment. He's been the executive director of the airport agency since 1985, working for the 15-member commission that runs the seven airports in the Twin Cities, including Minneapolis-St. Paul International.

MAC chairman Dan Bovin wished Hamiel well, even though he won't formally leave the MAC for another eight months.

"One of the reasons why this airport is great is that Jeff has been here a long time," said MAC chairman Dan Boivin. "I want to let you know personally, and on behalf of the commission, its a sad day." The MAC said Hamiel is the longest-serving major airport CEO in the country.

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The main Twin Cities airport is ranked 16th largest in North America by traffic, with more than 35 million travelers annually. There were just over 8 million travelers when Hamiel started his career with the MAC almost 40 years ago.

MAC commissioner Dixie Hoard, who spent nearly 30 years as a flight attendant for Northwest and Delta airlines, praised Hamiel after he expressed his thanks to the MAC for his long career.

"I have been in the airline industry since 1984 and have flown through and traveled through hundreds of airports around the world," said Hoard, who is from Thief River Falls. "This is one of the nicest, cleanest, well kept, functional airports in the world, and CEO Hamiel has had a lot to do with that."

Hamiel was formerly a pilot with the U.S. Air Force. He left the active service and went to work at Metropolitan Airports Commission in 1977, although he continued as an Air Force Reserve pilot through 1998. Hamiel started his civilan career as the first manager of noise abatement and environmental affairs at the MAC. He was promoted to assistant and then director of operations in the early 1980s. He also served as airport director and deputy executive director.

"My entire career has been locked up in aviation... I've thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity. I've had a passion for aviation my entire life," Hamiel told the MAC commissioners at their meeting this afternoon. He said he actually expected to work for the airport only for a few years and go on to fly airliners, but stayed in part because of the people he worked with at the MAC.

Since then, Hamiel has helped the airport navigate through airline deregulation, completed a dual-track planning process that weighed whether to relocate the airport to near Hastings, reached state loan agreements that helped save Northwest Airlines in the 1990s, established the biggest noise mitigation program in the country and made $3 billion in improvements to the main airport. During that time, the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 also transformed air travel and the airport.

MSP has lately won high marks from flyers: a survey by Travel + Leisure magazine ranked MSP as the best airport in the United States in 2012, saying "this may be the cheeriest and most welcoming airport in the nation."

The MAC has hired an executive search firm, Spencer Stuart, to search for a replacement for Hamiel, ready to help with a transition by April. Boivin said the MAC is working on how the search process will work, but noted that Hamiel's salary, now about $200,000 may be an obstacle, particularly to luring outside candidates.

"One of my concerns, is that you can bring in someone who's a rock star from somewhere else in the country, but are they going to leave in five years to go to New York City because they're going to get so much more money than they pay here?" Boivin said. "We've been talking through, trying to get a handle on that."