Memphis International Airport (MEM) News and Updates

[Wayward Memphian]

On 5/11/2023 at 7:17 PM, Memphisborn said:

Great news! We need a passenger airline headquarters here 

You are not going to get a passenger airline hq'd here. What this does is make MEM and BNA even more attractive to service because the fueling costs will be lower. Think bases for Allegiant or upstart Breeze with a couple of planes based here flying out and backs.  It also makes RON-ing(remain overnight ) more attractive. And...it makes stops in MEM attractive during the day to refuel.

Edited May 13, 2023 by Wayward Memphian

[MDC26]

On 5/10/2023 at 8:39 AM, smeagolsfree said:

Unfortunately for Memphis, I think Nashville has stolen a lot of the traffic from Memphis as well as a lot of the regional routes. I do not keep up with the stats the way that some of the guys on the board do in Nashville, but March was 1.9 million passengers and May is on track for over 2 million passengers with no airline hub. 

Metro keeps pouring money into the airport and I think that may be the only way to keep up with other cities. There are plans now to extend one of the runways for the planned Asia flights and an eventual 2nd terminal. They have added gates now and I think they are up to 70 at this point in time or will be. I think that has to be the goal of Memphis. Many of the folks that now fly out of Nashville come from Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia and the rest of TN. The flights are more available to the rest of the US than Charlotte and in many cases cheaper and are more on time. I have friends that live in Indiana that fly out of Nashville all the time to go to Vegas.

Well, some places in Indiana (like Evansville) Nashville is the 2nd closest major airport (only 25 minutes further than Louisville).  I’m sure BNA has better flight selections, and an extra 25 minute drive is nothing when it’s a direct flight vs connecting flight. BNA  obviously draws more people, but MEM has people coming from MS, AR, and MO. 

[smeagolsfree]

Sorry guys, not trying to make this sound like an all-out competition, but in some ways it is. Not just between Memphis and Nashville but between Memphis and many other airports nationwide. When it comes to airport construction 150 million dollars is a drop in the bucket. The city of Memphis and the State will have to do a better job financing the airport here to get the ball rolling.

Here are the breakdowns of the funding for BNA and Jon C Tune in Nashville so far and from what I know there is more coming.

BNA Vision announced 2016 and is complete and went over budget 1 billion.

John C Tune renovations including a new tower and facilities to take private traffic off of BNA 2020 43.5 million.

BNA New Horizon to be phased in over the next 6 years 1.2 billion.

I know we are about to break the 20 million passenger mark and I have heard 30 million by I think by 2030. The key is you have to spend a ton of money to make that money. Blue Oval will not help that much as many folks do not travel for business any longer. The real key is tourism. That is where the real numbers are now. Hotel numbers for business travelers are down as well. Some cities that had strong business travel hotels are hurting while other like Nashville that are strong in tourism travel can't seem to build enough. Example this past weekend the hotel rates were 800 a night on average in the Metro and the airport was packed because of all of the events going on.

Memphis is going to have to capitalize on the tourism industry as much as possible. Yes, you need jobs and good paying jobs, but the State seems to want to drive as many of those jobs to rural TN as they can. If you have not paid attention the Mega site are toward the middle of the state and not West TN. The last one was announced for Coffee County, I think. The one previous was around Clarksville. They try to avoid the Blue dots on the map. The problem with NE TN is there are no suitable site for them and no population, so they have towards the middle of the state. That is where the population growth has been. 

So, getting back to the airports they are throwing money into Nashville instead of two airports, I think. Memphis politicians need to be raising a little hell for sure. The one reason they are trying to get the one runway extended is to get the Asia flight to Japan because of all of the Japanese companies based here and the Japanese consulate in Nashville. The second largest investor in TN was Great Briton so it was no wonder they got the Nashville London flight and there are a large number of Country Music fans in England many of which go to Memphis as a side trip.

It's all politics to be honest.

[MDC26]

4 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Sorry guys, not trying to make this sound like an all-out competition, but in some ways it is. Not just between Memphis and Nashville but between Memphis and many other airports nationwide. When it comes to airport construction 150 million dollars is a drop in the bucket. The city of Memphis and the State will have to do a better job financing the airport here to get the ball rolling.

Here are the breakdowns of the funding for BNA and Jon C Tune in Nashville so far and from what I know there is more coming.

BNA Vision announced 2016 and is complete and went over budget 1 billion.

John C Tune renovations including a new tower and facilities to take private traffic off of BNA 2020 43.5 million.

BNA New Horizon to be phased in over the next 6 years 1.2 billion.

I know we are about to break the 20 million passenger mark and I have heard 30 million by I think by 2030. The key is you have to spend a ton of money to make that money. Blue Oval will not help that much as many folks do not travel for business any longer. The real key is tourism. That is where the real numbers are now. Hotel numbers for business travelers are down as well. Some cities that had strong business travel hotels are hurting while other like Nashville that are strong in tourism travel can't seem to build enough. Example this past weekend the hotel rates were 800 a night on average in the Metro and the airport was packed because of all of the events going on.

Memphis is going to have to capitalize on the tourism industry as much as possible. Yes, you need jobs and good paying jobs, but the State seems to want to drive as many of those jobs to rural TN as they can. If you have not paid attention the Mega site are toward the middle of the state and not West TN. The last one was announced for Coffee County, I think. The one previous was around Clarksville. They try to avoid the Blue dots on the map. The problem with NE TN is there are no suitable site for them and no population, so they have towards the middle of the state. That is where the population growth has been. 

So, getting back to the airports they are throwing money into Nashville instead of two airports, I think. Memphis politicians need to be raising a little hell for sure. The one reason they are trying to get the one runway extended is to get the Asia flight to Japan because of all of the Japanese companies based here and the Japanese consulate in Nashville. The second largest investor in TN was Great Briton so it was no wonder they got the Nashville London flight and there are a large number of Country Music fans in England many of which go to Memphis as a side trip.

It's all politics to be honest.

Sounds like you aren’t really paying attention. MEM just spent $245 million on redoing Terminal B. The $150 million you spoke of is just phase 1 of an $800 million project. So, that’s $1.25 Billion.  Again, not as much as Nashville, but they are doing something. 

[smeagolsfree]

19 hours ago, MDC26 said:

Sounds like you aren’t really paying attention. MEM just spent $245 million on redoing Terminal B. The $150 million you spoke of is just phase 1 of an $800 million project. So, that’s $1.25 Billion.  Again, not as much as Nashville, but they are doing something. 

You are correct as I did not see the 800 million.  Easy to overlook and my apologies. Again, that money has to be pouring in on a consistent basis. Not so sure the 2.2 billion us even close to the last in Nashville as that does not include the money that is being spent to reroute Donelson Pike and building a new diverging Diamond interchange.  More long-range plans being made for the 2nd terminal.

We have our own issues as the State is more than likely going to take over the airport authority from Metro because the Metro Council didn't allow the Republican National Convention to be held here. The State legislature is doing everything in their power to take power away from Metro Nashville and will do the same to Memphis.

[DRG901]

3 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

You are correct as I did not see the 800 million.  Easy to overlook and my apologies. Again, that money has to be pouring in on a consistent basis. Not so sure the 2.2 billion us even close to the last in Nashville as that does not include the money that is being spent to reroute Donelson Pike and building a new diverging Diamond interchange.  More long-range plans being made for the 2nd terminal.

We have our own issues as the State is more than likely going to take over the airport authority from Metro because the Metro Council didn't allow the Republican National Convention to be held here. The State legislature is doing everything in their power to take power away from Metro Nashville and will do the same to Memphis.

That is wild about the airport authority.   We've been dealing with crazy stuff with the state legislature for years (and recently along with Nashville as the national/world media has covered).   We have a lot more in common than people like to admit.  It can be a fun sibling rivalry on the internet at times but we really need to stick together

[The Guardian of Memphis]

On 5/13/2023 at 9:11 AM, smeagolsfree said:

Blue Oval will not help that much as many folks do not travel for business any longer. The real key is tourism. That is where the real numbers are now. Hotel numbers for business travelers are down as well. Some cities that had strong business travel hotels are hurting while other like Nashville that are strong in tourism travel can't seem to build enough. Example this past weekend the hotel rates were 800 a night on average in the Metro and the airport was packed because of all of the events going on.

Memphis is going to have to capitalize on the tourism industry as much as possible. Yes, you need jobs and good paying jobs, but the State seems to want to drive as many of those jobs to rural TN as they can. If you have not paid attention the Mega site are toward the middle of the state and not West TN. The last one was announced for Coffee County, I think. The one previous was around Clarksville. They try to avoid the Blue dots on the map. The problem with NE TN is there are no suitable site for them and no population, so they have towards the middle of the state. That is where the population growth has been. 

So, getting back to the airports they are throwing money into Nashville instead of two airports, I think. Memphis politicians need to be raising a little hell for sure. The one reason they are trying to get the one runway extended is to get the Asia flight to Japan because of all of the Japanese companies based here and the Japanese consulate in Nashville. The second largest investor in TN was Great Briton so it was no wonder they got the Nashville London flight and there are a large number of Country Music fans in England many of which go to Memphis as a side trip.

It's all politics to be honest.

We definitely want to be more than a "side trip".  LOL!!! I think Memphis deserves better.

You said that Blue Oval will not help that much because folks don't travel for business, but you mentioned that the reason why Nashville is having success is because of the Japanese companies based there. Nissan, I think, is a Japanese-based company, and even though the plant is not in Nashville it's close by. The Titans stadium is direct proof of that. I've often heard that one reason why Nashville has a hockey franchise is because of the GM officials from Detroit being there. In a recent Memphis Business Journal article about the Sterick building, it was noted that Ford officials were in downtown Memphis, so Blue Oval doesn't only have an effect in rural areas, especially since there's talk of implementing some form of commute from Blue Oval to Memphis, as they would like to shuttle people from here. We'll have to wait and see if there will be a population growth from Blue Oval as it doesn't happen all the time statistically with other regions that have auto manufacturing. The key is having the infrastructure in place.

We've been trying to capitalize on tourism and hospitality for the longest, and investments have been made with Tom Lee Park and an art museum downtown to further those goals. It's not just for tourism though, it's to make an investment in the community, to make downtown Memphis a livable, walkable place, not just office towers that are full of life 5 days a week. 

The talk for years has always been Memphis politicians being proactive for this area but getting nowhere when it comes to politics at State level. Don't know if this is true.

[Memphisborn]

52 minutes ago, The Guardian of Memphis said:

We definitely want to be more than a "side trip".  LOL!!! I think Memphis deserves better.

You said that Blue Oval will not help that much because folks don't travel for business, but you mentioned that the reason why Nashville is having success is because of the Japanese companies based there. Nissan, I think, is a Japanese-based company, and even though the plant is not in Nashville it's close by. The Titans stadium is direct proof of that. I've often heard that one reason why Nashville has a hockey franchise is because of the GM officials from Detroit being there. In a recent Memphis Business Journal article about the Sterick building, it was noted that Ford officials were in downtown Memphis, so Blue Oval doesn't only have an effect in rural areas, especially since there's talk of implementing some form of commute from Blue Oval to Memphis, as they would like to shuttle people from here. We'll have to wait and see if there will be a population growth from Blue Oval as it doesn't happen all the time statistically with other regions that have auto manufacturing. The key is having the infrastructure in place.

We've been trying to capitalize on tourism and hospitality for the longest, and investments have been made with Tom Lee Park and an art museum downtown to further those goals. It's not just for tourism though, it's to make an investment in the community, to make downtown Memphis a livable, walkable place, not just office towers that are full of life 5 days a week. 

The talk for years has always been Memphis politicians being proactive for this area but getting nowhere when it comes to politics at State level. Don't know if this is true.

I saw that the article mentioned Ford officials being in downtown Memphis, I wonder if they are planning office space @ the walk ?? Or Sterick?? 

[Wayward Memphian]

19 hours ago, DRG901 said:

That is wild about the airport authority.   We've been dealing with crazy stuff with the state legislature for years (and recently along with Nashville as the national/world media has covered).   We have a lot more in common than people like to admit.  It can be a fun sibling rivalry on the internet at times but we really need to stick together

Haslem was a Republican and lead the Nashville Boom as mayor before moving to Governor's office where he continued his Nashville bias.  It is fair I guess as the Boss Crump machine controlled Tenn politics for decades.  But, Nashville, like Austin has moved way to the left with their growth. They are now often at odds with the folks on the Capotol grounds much like Austin is with the Texas ledge. 

I find it amusing.  This gov no matter his political affiation seems to be a bit more focused on all of Tenn not just middle TN/Nashville. 

 

And... why y'all feeding the troll.

[DRG901]

34 minutes ago, Wayward Memphian said:

Haslem was a Republican and lead the Nashville Boom as mayor before moving to Governor's office where he continued his Nashville bias.  It is fair I guess as the Boss Crump machine controlled Tenn politics for decades.  But, Nashville, like Austin has moved way to the left with their growth. They are now often at odds with the folks on the Capotol grounds much like Austin is with the Texas ledge. 

I find it amusing.  This gov no matter his political affiation seems to be a bit more focused on all of Tenn not just middle TN/Nashville. 

 

And... why y'all feeding the troll.

Haslem was the mayor of Knoxville, think you are thinking of Phil Bredesen, he was mayor of Nashville in the 90's and Democrat who became governor.   I definitely think Lee has done a lot for Memphis/West Tenn recently.  Please bring as many Blue Ovals as you can lol.

[Nothingspectacular]

Memphis has historically had difficulty developing its tourism and convention business.  With Beale Street and Graceland as the main attractions, I believe the distance between downtown and Graceland is part of it.  The vibe of the Lamar Ave corridor along with the citywide crime statistics doesn’t help matters. Convention growth is hampered by the lack of good hotels, especially downtown, and the lack of direct flights at MEM. The renovated convention center is much improved but it still lags many cities. 

[Memphisborn]

1 hour ago, Nothingspectacular said:

Memphis has historically had difficulty developing its tourism and convention business.  With Beale Street and Graceland as the main attractions, I believe the distance between downtown and Graceland is part of it.  The vibe of the Lamar Ave corridor along with the citywide crime statistics doesn’t help matters. Convention growth is hampered by the lack of good hotels, especially downtown, and the lack of direct flights at MEM. The renovated convention center is much improved but it still lags many cities. 

Agreed, the Lowes hotel proposal along with the GrandHyatt failure really hurt and needs to be revisited. Also we HAVE TO ADDRESS our CRIME issues. Nobody wants to tour a city where they are afraid to park there car and walk down the street. On a brighter note hopefully Sheraton will continue to move forward on the proposed renovation and JW addition. Would love to see the Edge district continue to grow as a entertainment district along with residential/ culinary options. 

[Wayward Memphian]

Southwest adds MEM/DCA Jully11th to Sept 4th. This is a total headscratcher with AA flying this 4 x daily last I looked. Fares will be lowering for sure. Short operation period but daily

https://www.facebook.com/1449633685251498/posts/pfbid02qZTnBeSNJNVQcsUb1Ny62fdbqUF4jjC3P6V2F8z3wRH3uBsBkc8HkXpRYibNhgGql/?mibextid=Nif5oz

 

[Wayward Memphian]

15 minutes ago, Wayward Memphian said:

Southwest adds MEM/DCA Jully11th to Sept 4th. This is a total headscratcher with AA flying this 4 x daily last I looked. Fares will be lowering for sure. Short operation period but daily

https://www.facebook.com/1449633685251498/posts/pfbid02qZTnBeSNJNVQcsUb1Ny62fdbqUF4jjC3P6V2F8z3wRH3uBsBkc8HkXpRYibNhgGql/?mibextid=Nif5oz

 

These are Prime DCA slots. If this comes back after the Sept lull, I'll be impressed and AA will be really pissed. And... if it does. How will it effect the on again, off again BWI service that sure does offer more connecting options to the Northeast.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Wayward Memphian

[Memphis4ever]

On 5/15/2023 at 11:46 AM, Memphisborn said:

Agreed, the Lowes hotel proposal along with the GrandHyatt failure really hurt and needs to be revisited. Also we HAVE TO ADDRESS our CRIME issues. Nobody wants to tour a city where they are afraid to park there car and walk down the street. On a brighter note hopefully Sheraton will continue to move forward on the proposed renovation and JW addition. Would love to see the Edge district continue to grow as a entertainment district along with residential/ culinary options. 

Tourism is fine we just dont get the white collar job corporate foot traffic that is why nashville has so many hotels and conventions.  Large corporations bring guests and vendors in and out all the time.  With our abundant warehouse jobs we dont get that benefit.  But leisure tourist Memphis does well, we do need some better larger hotels that would help  too but we have small minded local developers that let 5 million dollars stop a 200 million dollar project.  Crime is crime and is everywhere and until recently it has become more public and brasen not just in Memphis but nationally every police department is dealing with car thefts and these robberies thats why i hate when people try to make this a memphis only problem.  But anyway more corporate businesses and better hotels would help.

[MDC26]

9 hours ago, Memphis4ever said:

Tourism is fine we just dont get the white collar job corporate foot traffic that is why nashville has so many hotels and conventions.  Large corporations bring guests and vendors in and out all the time.  With our abundant warehouse jobs we dont get that benefit.  But leisure tourist Memphis does well, we do need some better larger hotels that would help  too but we have small minded local developers that let 5 million dollars stop a 200 million dollar project.  Crime is crime and is everywhere and until recently it has become more public and brasen not just in Memphis but nationally every police department is dealing with car thefts and these robberies thats why i hate when people try to make this a memphis only problem.  But anyway more corporate businesses and better hotels would help.

White collar job corporate foot traffic has nothing to do with a big sector of conventions.  The reason why Nashville gets a lot of conventions is because they have a great and large enough facility, and is a desirable location.  I am in a profession that has numerous organizations and lots of conventions across the country.  The convention space at Memphis is not big enough for the majority of conferences.  Even though I think people could have a great time in Memphis, it does not make the desirable destination list and there is the fear of safety.  The cities that get the lions share of conventions that are the 8,000-30,000 attendees are Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Honolulu, Phoenix, Vegas, Denver, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, New Orleans, Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, Philly, New York, DC, Orlando, and Miami.  Even cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore that have adequate facilities, aren't typically in the rotation because they aren't as desirable cities and the meeting planners fear that they will have a low turn out.  

Edited May 19, 2023 by MDC26

[Memphis4ever]

Most of the cities you named are coastal cities tech cities and corporate cities.  Further reinforcing what I'm saying some people don't find cities attractive unless they have certain things in them and corporate jobs brings a different type of retail and development while you may be in the travel industry I'm in architecture and I know what makes people feel attracted to a place. Both nashville, Austin Charlotte Denver and Atlanta used to be smaller cities but all went through a boom of corporate expansion.  Think about it fed ex and st jude host marathons and all sorts of events that bring tourist to Memphis 20,000 etc for the st jude marathon. So corporate presence plays a big role role you can't just deny that I work downtown and see the traffic everyday a who brings it.

[MDC26]

32 minutes ago, Memphis4ever said:

Most of the cities you named are coastal cities tech cities and corporate cities.  Further reinforcing what I'm saying some people don't find cities attractive unless they have certain things in them and corporate jobs brings a different type of retail and development while you may be in the travel industry I'm in architecture and I know what makes people feel attracted to a place. Both nashville, Austin Charlotte Denver and Atlanta used to be smaller cities but all went through a boom of corporate expansion.  Think about it fed ex and st jude host marathons and all sorts of events that bring tourist to Memphis 20,000 etc for the st jude marathon. So corporate presence plays a big role role you can't just deny that I work downtown and see the traffic everyday a who brings it.

Yes, there is a correlation between cities that are desirable convention locations, and cities that are desirable corporate locations.  But my point regarding the conventions, is we don't have large enough facilities or hotel space to bring in the larger conventions.  Nashville does.  The renovation to the Renasant Convention Center looks amazing, but the exhibit hall is only 118,000 sqft and the grand ballroom is only 28,000 sqft, while the Music City Center has 353,000 sqft of exhibit space and 57,500 sqft grand ballroom.  The other cities that I mentioned has similar or bigger convention centers.  New Orleans has had lots of success with getting big conventions without being a coastal city, tech city, or corporate city.  It's even considered a higher crime city.  Obviously it's because people like going to New Orleans because of the French Quarter, cuisine, and other unique aspects to New Orleans.  The New Orleans convention center isn't really all that nice, but years ago, their city made the decision to build a large enough convention center, so that they would be in the running for conventions of all sizes.  

[Memphisborn]

29 minutes ago, MDC26 said:

Yes, there is a correlation between cities that are desirable convention locations, and cities that are desirable corporate locations.  But my point regarding the conventions, is we don't have large enough facilities or hotel space to bring in the larger conventions.  Nashville does.  The renovation to the Renasant Convention Center looks amazing, but the exhibit hall is only 118,000 sqft and the grand ballroom is only 28,000 sqft, while the Music City Center has 353,000 sqft of exhibit space and 57,500 sqft grand ballroom.  The other cities that I mentioned has similar or bigger convention centers.  New Orleans has had lots of success with getting big conventions without being a coastal city, tech city, or corporate city.  It's even considered a higher crime city.  Obviously it's because people like going to New Orleans because of the French Quarter, cuisine, and other unique aspects to New Orleans.  The New Orleans convention center isn't really all that nice, but years ago, their city made the decision to build a large enough convention center, so that they would be in the running for conventions of all sizes.  

Renassant is very high quality was just in there yesterday it’s amazing the decor, smell, carpet and break out meeting space is great. It’s seamless connection to canon center give it more size IMO, once Sheraton renovates and adds the JW it will definitely be a 2nd tier CC. Until that happens I rate it as 3rd tier only because the adjacent convention hotel needs upgrades. 

[MDC26]

37 minutes ago, Memphisborn said:

Renassant is very high quality was just in there yesterday it’s amazing the decor, smell, carpet and break out meeting space is great. It’s seamless connection to canon center give it more size IMO, once Sheraton renovates and adds the JW it will definitely be a 2nd tier CC. Until that happens I rate it as 3rd tier only because the adjacent convention hotel needs upgrades. 

Yes, its very nice and top quality condition.  I've been in it recently.  It's just not large enough for a large sector of conventions that have higher attendees and require more exhibitor space.  The Canon Center is nice, and increases the useable space, but that type of venue is not needed for many conventions.  I'm not arguing that it's not nice, I'm just stating the fact that it's not in the running for the larger meetings just because of the size.  

[Wayward Memphian]

We can debate this till the cows come home but there was a perfect opportunity to use the Commercial Appeal and the Union Row development area for a new convention/Hotel/smaller enclosed football stadium  connected to Beale and this city pissed it away. But, I digress. I think Gov Lee would have worked with the city like it did for the hundreds of millions to put more makeup on the fairgrounds pig.

[Memphisborn]

8 hours ago, MDC26 said:

Yes, its very nice and top quality condition.  I've been in it recently.  It's just not large enough for a large sector of conventions that have higher attendees and require more exhibitor space.  The Canon Center is nice, and increases the useable space, but that type of venue is not needed for many conventions.  I'm not arguing that it's not nice, I'm just stating the fact that it's not in the running for the larger meetings just because of the size.  

It’s definitely not a tier 1 cc however it’s a definite top tier 2 once JW and renovated Sheraton comes online.  

[Nothingspectacular]

The convention center was nicely renovated, however it is still far too  small for major conventions and events. The adjoining Canon Center for performing arts is rarely used by conventions.  Canon Center is not booked much of the year as it is hurt by events that take place at the Orpheum and FedEx forum.  

Edited May 20, 2023 by Nothingspectacular

[Memphisborn]

On 5/19/2023 at 2:04 PM, Wayward Memphian said:

We can debate this till the cows come home but there was a perfect opportunity to use the Commercial Appeal and the Union Row development area for a new convention/Hotel/smaller enclosed football stadium  connected to Beale and this city pissed it away. But, I digress. I think Gov Lee would have worked with the city like it did for the hundreds of millions to put more makeup on the fairgrounds pig.

I would have loved to see CA site converted to soccer stadium. However it didn’t happen. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a new development @ CA this year. 

[JTM1]

This was an informative interview about the airport.