Target returns to Minneapolis base ahead of store openings and earnings

Target Corporation's Gulfstream G280, tail number N585PL, touched down at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on May 9 after a 2-hour-17-minute flight from Salt Lake City International, departing late the previous evening. The super-midsize jet, part of Target's three-aircraft fleet, reached a maximum altitude of 41,025 feet and topped 490 knots on the ground-speed meter during the overnight hop back to the retailer's Minnesota headquarters.

The timing aligns with Target's push to expand its footprint, as the company prepares for the grand opening of six new stores across Arizona, Missouri, New Jersey, and North Carolina on May 17, per a corporate announcement this spring. These launches, featuring larger-than-average formats up to 149,000 square feet, form part of a broader 2026 strategy to open over 30 locations and invest $5 billion in growth initiatives. With CEO Michael Fiddelke at the helm since February, such returns to base often signal oversight of operational rollouts ahead of key milestones like the upcoming Q1 earnings call on May 20.

This flight concludes a flurry of recent activity for the aircraft, which crisscrossed the western U.S. over the prior days—from Florida's Orlando area to Texas, Idaho, Utah, and Montana—suggesting a series of supplier meetings or regional store checks. Target, the second-largest U.S. discount retailer behind Walmart, maintains recurring routes to business hubs like Chicago, Houston, Austin, San Francisco, Miami, and Washington, D.C., but homeward bound trips like this one underscore the steady pull of its Minneapolis nerve center amid a year of strategic recalibration.