Memphis International Airport

History

Memphis Municipal Airport opened on a 200-acre (81 ha) plot of farmland just over seven miles (11 km) from downtown Memphis. During its early years the airport had three hangars and an unpaved runway; passenger and air mail service was provided by American Airlines and Chicago and Southern Air Lines (acquired by Delta Air Lines in 1953). In 1939 Eastern Air Lines arrived; that March Eastern had one departure a day to Muscle Shoals and beyond, American had four east/west and C&S had four north/south.

During World War II the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command 4th Ferrying Group used Memphis while sending new aircraft overseas. In April 1951 the runways were 6000-ft 2/20, 6530-ft 9/27, 4370-ft 14/32 and 4950-ft 17/35 (the airport was all north of Winchester Rd during the 1950s)

The April 1957 OAG shows 64 weekday departures: 25 on Delta, 18 American, 7 Southern, 5 Eastern, 4 Braniff, 3 Trans-Texas and 2 Capital. American DC-6s flew nonstop to Washington and New York, but westward nonstops didn't reach beyond Ft Worth and Kansas City until American started Los Angeles in 1964. The first scheduled jets were Delta 880s ORD-MEM-MSY and back, starting in July–August 1960.

The current terminal was designed by Mann & Harrover and cost $6.5 million. It opened on June 7, 1963 and Memphis Municipal changed its name to Memphis International in 1969. In 1985–86 Republic Airlines began flights to Mexico. The terminal was expanded for $31.6 million in 1974, adding two new concourses and extending the others, which were designed by Roy P. Harrover & Associates. In 1995 international service expanded when KLM began service to Amsterdam. Flights to Amsterdam ended on September 3, 2012, part of Delta's cutbacks in Memphis, leaving Cancun, Mexico and Freeport, Bahamas as the remaining international flights from Memphis, operated by Aeromexico and Bahamasair on behalf of Vacation Express. Air Canada is resuming daily non-stop service to Toronto beginning May 2017.

Southern Airways was an important regional carrier at Memphis in the 1960s; it merged into Republic Airlines in 1979 as the first large merger after the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act. With the dismantling of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) flight approval requirements, airlines began developing around a large hub model as opposed to the former point-to-point networks that were common before deregulation. Republic established Memphis as a hub operation in 1985 before merging into Northwest Airlines in 1986. In 2008 Delta Air Lines bought Northwest.

Federal Express (now FedEx Express) began operations in Memphis in 1973. It opened its current "SuperHub" facility on the north side of the airport in 1981.

In 2008 the airport began expanding its control tower and parking garages. The new tower cost $72.6 million and is 336 feet tall, more than double the old tower height. An $81 million, 7-story parking garage replaced two surface lots adding 6,500 parking spaces. $11 million was spent on a covered moving walkway between the garages and the terminal.

Since 2009 the airport has been a small hub for regional carrier SeaPort Airlines. Utilizing the single-engine Cessna 208 Caravan turboprop SeaPort has flights to communities in Arkansas through the Essential Air Service program. SeaPort Airlines is based at the private aviation terminal, not the main passenger terminal.

In 2014, the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority announced a planned $114 million renovation of the airport. This renovation will include demolishing the largely-vacant south ends of concourses A and C, which will allow aircraft to more easily access the larger B concourse. The remainder of the A and C concourses will remain and be ready to use for any potential growth in the future. In addition, the plan calls for the widening and modernization of the B concourse, which most flights will be directed to when the renovation is complete. The renovation, expected to start in late 2015 and end around 2020, will leave the airport with about 60 gates.

Operations

Memphis International Airport is governed by the Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority. Board of directors consist of five members appointed by the Memphis mayor and two members nominated by the Shelby County mayor. All board members are confirmed by the Memphis City Council.

Facilities and aircraft

Memphis International Airport covers 3,900 acres (1,600 ha) and has four paved runways:

Runway 9/27 reopened for traffic on November 30, 2009 after nine months of resurfacing. The new runway has a more durable concrete surface, and opened in time for the peak of the FedEx shipping season.

For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2014 the airport had 225,592 aircraft operations, an average of 618 per day: 71% scheduled commercial, 18% air taxi, 10% general aviation, and 1% military. At that time there were 93 aircraft based at this airport: 48% jet, 15% multi-engine, 17% single-engine, 10% military, and 10% helicopter. The Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) is on the airport grounds at 3229 Democrat Road, TN 38118.

Terminals

Military

The 164th Airlift Wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard is based at the co-located Memphis Air National Guard Base, operating C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft.

Accidents and incidents