Wayward Memphian

It was given orthodoxy around these parts that Benton County would out pace Washington Co in growth. And... that is now true. It was also a given that Springdale would eventually catch up with and pass Fayetteville. It was non more appear than with the 2010 census numbers. Some things changed with that between 2010 and 2022. U OF A aggressively recruited Texas kids with in state tuition offers that led to an explosion of off campus apts. Go look at the new housing subs along 15th/Ark 16 between School and Happy Hollow. Nearly all college kids, lots of Texas plates. The enrollment growth nearly mirrors the widened gap between Springdale and Fayetteville from 2010 to 2020. That will eventually subside when the Uof A enrollment reaches equilibrium within the next 5 years and Springdale will do what was expected more than a decade ago and pass Fayetteville.

Really? Have you driven down Ark 265 through Hogeye and the back roada to Prairie Grove from there? Still plenty of pastures that can be developed along old US71 to Brentwood. I have coworkers here in Fayetteville that live in Alma, plenty of land between there and Mountainburg to build on. This is a fine example of endless possibilities

Projections show Fayetteville losing the biggest of the 4 title soon enough. No need to usher it to the Top. Generic NWA works best here or cop some other term like The Quad. And... what the hell are you talking about not much room for growth between Fayetteville and Alma?

Appreciate the effort to inject life in to this board but it is in a vegetative coma in the message board intensive care unit. No, Don't separate asgrowth will start filling in the gap and I-49 is the main lifeline. Ft. Smith no longer warrants being a standalone. These stations already have trouble attracting and keeping decent talent.

The timing for that Avelo flight is... well, not good. And... on a 737. I'll hope they pull down some monthly load factors in the mid 50s to 60 % range and sell it's viability to an operator like Breeze and their smaller E Jets once Avelo pulls the plug or AA steps in and adds a Sunday thru Friday 76 seater to it like they have AUS.

Pretty sure that MEM bested Jan 2019 enplanment numbers by at least 3K. Less non rev flyers than in 2019 keep the gap a bit closer. This is important as it marks that growth is surpassing pre-covid levels and in spite of decreased business flying post-covid. 2023 looks to be the busiest since the dehub and with the new B open.

Say, there's this island that needs a sumthin' sumthin'. But... I digress. Aquarium, Tivoli like collection of rides, revamped River museum with a Soarin' style attraction flying you from Lake Itasca to the Gulf, revamped Amp to 7,500 with some suites, land bridge to Beale St Landing, renovated River Walk, Christmas Market complete with lights a show tree, restaurants, more botanical appeal, copy what we do here in Fayetteville and have a craft beer fest in Feb with breweries from all over offering samples for a set price and weekly fireworks on Fri or Sat nite at the southern tip.

For the Life of me, why can't we have this be the performance portion of a House of Blues. A Sunday Brunch show like they have at Orlando would be packed with the tourist.

Delta has yet again loaded up a MEM/BOS nonstop to start upnon May 8th. It appears to arrive late, RON and leave early. Spirit appears to be holding to an April start on nonstop to LAX. This has seemingly flown under the media radar. But, it is bookable. Spirit has higher load factors at Memphis over than Frontier.

It appears that Spirit will finally launch their nonstops to LAX in April. The flight is bookable in their site. If the sale to JetBlue is approved and they keep the routes that Spirit is going to be flying, I can see their route map like something like this in a couple of years MEM-BOS/JFK/MCO/FLL/LAS/LAX I'd hope they'd transition a few of those to their A223s. AA's MEM/BOS flight had loads at 87% for June and 79% for July. I hope that gets back in the high 80s. Either way, the load factors were high compared to other Republic operates regional flights for AA. Now no one knows about yield yet.

They have up to 12 more potential gates in the untouched part of B. That would be 35ish total That should be enough for a very long time. After that a new satellite Concourse could be added to the south. I get that gates can be underused most of the day but you need more for those peak periods like 6am. Memphis had/may still have lots of remain over nights, having more than you really need allows greater scheduling flexibility for airline flight planners and can get you a flight that otherwise may not happen. Shocked that Allegiant hasn't based planes at MEM yet.

Financing is getting more and more expensive. Memphis momentum is going to once again suffer from the financial markets because things seem to slow to a crawl here development wise.

As you see in the Mud Island thread, cruising in Memphis is growing. Most of these cruises originate or terminate in either New Orleans and Memphis. Many drive to these ports so someone (like Breeze) will eventually find a good shuttle business flying folks back and forth.

SI looked at the Sept 22 stats for MEM. The airport exceeded 2019 enplanements last month by 4K with 11 less average daily flights. That means fuller and larger planes. I expect Oct to exceed 2019 as well with Cogic back in town. Southwest looks to be bringing back daily flights to MCO(Orlando) next March. Spirit has maintained it's daily service here but Frontier appears to be dropping it next year. The Southwest flights to DEN are packed, they should added another frequency in 2023 but I wished they'd add back PHX and/or and LAS. I doubt we ever see Southwest fly TPA daily again. Southwest should bring back BWI(Baltimore) in 2023 IMO. I still hold hope for Breeze to enter Memphis, their A223s are right sized for twice weekly service to San Fran and Seattle. They just started flying to SFO recently If the Jet Blue Spirit deal goes through, I'm mighty interested in seeing what Jet Blue adds. JFK? FLL?

To not build the soccer stadium downtown is a travesty.

American announced Sun to Fri service(no Sat) to Austin from MEM today starting in January. From the MEM facebooks: MEMPHIS, TENN. (September 19, 2022) – American Airlines has announced it will launch nonstop service between Memphis International Airport (MEM) and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) starting January 10, 2023. Tickets are on sale at www.aa.com. The flight will run Sunday through Friday and American will operate a 76-seat Embraer 175 aircraft for the route. With the addition of Austin, American Airlines will offer service between Memphis and 10 destinations, including Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. “We’re excited to connect Memphis International Airport with Austin-Bergstrom International Airport starting this winter,” said Philippe Puech, American Airlines Director of Short-Haul Network Planning. “This new route has been a frequent customer request and the largest passenger carrier at MEM is proud to deliver, complementing existing nonstop service to nine other cities across our global network. Whether customers are taking care of business or are traveling to enjoy the sights and sounds of the musical capital cities, we can’t wait to welcome them on board.” “We are excited and grateful for American Airlines’ continued growth at MEM,” said Michael Keeney, Chairman of the Memphis-Shelby County Board of Commissioners. “This route creates new travel opportunities for both business and leisure travelers alike.” Now AA needs to add similar service to LAX and RDU and make MEM a full blown Focus City along with code share and OneWorld partner Alaska adding SEA and possibly SFO.

The city should contact the folks at Zamperla rides. They manage Coney Island for NYC. There are others. Anyhoo.. the featured attraction for a Christmas Market would be something like this positioned in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico segment of the river walk Here is some ride concept art released by a park in the Netherlands today. Another illustration of making the most of a small footprint the coaster is designed around another ride the other is a kiddie ride with nice theming

I have that one planned for a trip next year. But... I have been on Taron at Phantasialand in Germany that Intamin. It is my favorite coaster and I have over 300 under my belt.. not a single inversion but intense. Phantasialand is a small but very cool theme park. They have mixed a family coaster in with Taron in the footprint. They have incorporates themed hotels with in the park. It is amazing. They also have an insane Christmas season. Here's Taron, notice how short is is Here is their newest hotel, notice the coaster being part of it. The hotel reminders you of the tube rooms in Japan.

I have thoughts on this. I'd build a carousel house. Two level carousel themed to the River, you'd ride fish turtles, ducks, ect, ect, ect. But.. this building would house several other "kiddie rides" have a cafe and also have "birthday rooms" available for rent. The "indoorness" allows for year round ops to compliment the other attractions (Museum with "Ride Over" theater, Aquarium, and Christmas Market) Before Memphis lost the Belle, I wanted them to restore it and add a virtual simulator realistically give a taste of a bombing run over Germany was like. I have been on one in France and it was great.

Here's a new coaster concept just released by Intimin. Their most recent work can be found with the Hagrid's and Jurassic World coasters at Universal among a few others at The Sea World and Busch Garden parks It goes to show what can be done on a small footprint.

Two options Red = New amp stage Yellow = new fixed amp seating Green = slightly sloped lawn for seating Blue= Aquarium 3k to 4k fixed seating with a row of premium boxes along the top. Lawn seating for 10k to 12k above.

Red = new marina location Yellow = infill for expanding Mud Island usage space Expanded southern end to accommodate up to 15k for fest stage.

I've forgotten about another key element as part of a Musueum revamp. The "Fly Over" attraction that take you on a flight down the Mississippi from Itasca MN to the Gulf. This ride is like the hugely popular Soarin' rides at Disneyland and Epcot. There are others that have popped up as well. The point about a soccer stadium and a rework of the Amp or the south end of Mud Island is that viable locations exists or could exist and keep the River as a major element of the event. The revamped park can still host smaller stages that the massive hordes will mostly skip by. Another aspect is to make sure Beale Street Landing fully capable of host all the river cruise boats with having to utilize the Island so that area can be put to better use. Now, turn the New Daisy into the stage for a House of Blues complete with a Sunday Brunch Review that truly caters to those type of tourists.

It was. One of the major improvements needed for the AMP is back of house stuff so I have read over the years. New dressing rooms, catering facilities, Tour bus parking, ect, ect, ect. Correct me if I'm wrong but the no compete clause kicks in at 5k. Graceland Live was to be 6,700 and you saw the stink they threw. Mud Island is at 5k presently. How do you improve economies of scale without increasing capacity. New AMPs like the one in NWA are 7,500 at least. I hear many shows get underwritten by Walmart as well just for the quality of life aspects of it. In an ideal world the Music Fest would be two weekends like NOJ&HF, anchored by the Amp at Mud Island and a Soccer Stadium venue for the headliners at the other end of Beale(CA prop).

Also, the setting at Mud Island is great compared to that cookie cutter amp in Southaven or the Walmart Amp up here in NWA. It is a unique and beautiful setting. I have been to over a 100 concerts in my time and that Skyline is a great backdrop. I watched the Allman Bros Band back in the 90s and earlier storms had past to the east but it even added an amazing electrical storm display behing the Skyline. That pedestrian bridge would make it even better to pre party on Beale. If my dream came true and it gained Tivoli type rides on the north end. I would push for moving the marina to the Bass Pro Side and filling that area in a bit it would also make an excellent place for in water supports for a steel coaster. This in answer to a previous post. MI has many elements similar to Tivoli in place. It has the Riverwalk and fukf that could be more of a botanical feature. Has the room for a couple of eateries. Has a museum. The Cannon Center is the Performing Arts Center that Tivoli has, just slightly off property. Tivoli has an aquarium, Mud Island needs this and the rides and "gardener up" the rest is there in place, it just needs polishing. Here is Dollywood's Christmas Tree show that would be the showpiece of a European style Christmas Market from Thanksgiving to to New Years. Imagine this in the middle of the Gulf and done to Memphis music artists. https://youtu.be/5030BT6rCro Also this an old Pippin designed coaster from Jacksonville. That first drop was quite something for the time. It is very compact. The past shows you the possibilities.