A couple of decades ago, we flew into the People’s Republic of China, and as we circled the Beijing airport, everything below us was pitch black.
Suddenly, someone on the ground threw a switch. The lights along the runway came on and we turned for landing. But we couldn’t see the airport, just the runway lights.
As the airplane approached the landing, the airport lit up, but only the gate where we were to deplane. The rest of the airport remained dark, but as we prepared to walk off the airplane, the lights were turned on just in front of us and as we moved through the airport, the lights were turned off as soon as we passed and the lights on the runway were too.
All the passengers gathered to collect our luggage with all the lights in the rest of the airport turned off.
Damages
We think of that Beijing airport these days when we land at Memphis International Airport. If it weren’t for FedEx, we could simply turn off the lights at the airport.
A group of people from several cities converged on Memphis a few weeks ago for a meeting, and a prime topic of conversation was how depressing it was to land late one evening at the Memphis airport. One said that he had never had such a dismal experience at any airport. The person from Atlanta apologized for the devastation wrought by Delta Airlines on our city.
It’s difficult to fully calculate the damage that Delta Airlines has done to the Memphis region and its ability to compete for a larger tourism industry, to recruit new companies, and to advocate for the expansion of existing ones.
That’s why Jack Sammons, chairman of the Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority, has the most thankless job in our community. He has to deal with the emotions of the public frustrated about the sharp decline in air service, but he also has to deal with their impatience for things to get better.
Factoids
There are now 83 daily flights at MEM, and 22 have been added in the past year. There are now 47 flights that have nothing to do with Delta Airlines.
American Airlines has 22 flights, Frontier Airlines has two flights (including an incredible $99 ticket price to Dallas/Fort Worth), Southwest Airlines has seven flights, and United Airlines has 16 flights. There are also flights by Southern Airlines and SeaPort Airlines flying out of Signature-Memphis.
There are now 7,107 seats a day on these flights – 3,471 on Delta; 1,722 on American; 318 on Frontier; 836 on Southwest, and 750 on United. It’s no surprise – considering how Delta works to force us through Atlanta – that the flights to the Georgia city have the most seats with 1,490.
#2 in the most seats are the American Airlines flights to Dallas and Charlotte – at 652 and 520 respectively. In other words, most Memphians are now by and large being shuttled to hubs that resemble the one we once had.
We have direct flight to 26 cities (Nashville has direct flights to 50 cities). We have non-Delta Airlines daily flight options to Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, Philadelphia, Denver, Baltimore, Houston, Orlando, Tampa, and New York.
Delta Does Memphis Origins
We are told that demand for the new flights is strong, and that Southwest Airlines is looking to add flights now that the restrictions put in place 34 years ago in Dallas Love Airport were lifted a couple of weeks ago.
Yes, we are a long way from the more than 250 daily flights that we once had, but we are making a comeback. As we said when we set up the Delta Does Memphis Facebook group, the road back will be long (it has taken a year to add 22 new flights) and it will be painful, but it’s better to take control of our own destiny than surrender to the parasitic instincts of the airline that once dominated our market.
It was mid-May in 2012 when we set up Delta Does Memphis in hopes of driving changes in the leadership at the airport and the insular way in which airport business was conducted. We said back then: “There has been a pattern of poor decisions and cozy relationships at the Airport that led to the creation of the fortress hub and produced the crisis that exists today. It’s why new thinking, mayoral leadership, business involvement, and a real plan of action are needed and have been advocated assertively by the nearly 6,000 people on Delta Does Memphis. Most of all, it’s about being honest with the public and it’s not about seeing the car in the ditch, and not acknowledging how it got there.”
Seven months later, we had a new chairman of the Airport Authority and the president of the authority left six months early in January, 2014. When he took up his duties as chairman, Mr. Sammons acknowledged an “angry customer base” and promised a “contagious enthusiasm” for the challenges ahead of him.
Best of all, the lid has been ripped off the secret society that was decision-making at Memphis International Airport before the new leadership took over. While there was some mild grumbling when the new regime hired the first highly qualified public information officer for the airport, Glen Thomas has proven in that job that the authority is dead serious about being transparent, about open and honest discussion, and about inviting criticisms and praise.
Smarter Leadership Instincts
Back when we started Delta Does Memphis, we set three priorities: 1) to give voice to frustrations and complaints and bring us together to call for change; 2) to put high airfares and airport reform at the top of our local agenda; and 3) to inspire a movement that would bring the community together to pursue more airlines and lower ticket prices. Delta Does Memphis has been credited by the news media with driving change, and there’s no argument that we accomplished the first two priorities. The best news of all is that the movement described in the third priority appears to have been adopted by the Airport Authority itself.
It always baffled us that when we began Delta Does Memphis, the former leadership of the Airport Authority (and the Chamber of Commerce for that matter) declared war on the concerned citizens getting involved and calling for change rather than engage them in a productive conversation.
The instincts of the new leadership are much better, and in inviting public comment and in adopting new attitudes, it has earned our patience in reinventing an airport that was devastated by Delta Airlines’ dominance and domineering attitude and authority leaders who repeated the airlines’ talking points rather than shooting straight with the people paying the highest airfares in the country.
Come to think of it, that data point alone is a sign of progress. Memphis is now #8 among the cities paying the highest fares and we have been as low as #14. As Authority President Scott Brockman has accurately said, competition creates pricing pressure, but customers have to use new service like Frontier Airlines. That’s because as new airlines have entered our market, Delta has reduced its fares to match the new entries, hoping that we’ll have amnesia about the decades they gouged us with fares that drained the bank accounts of Memphis businesses and tourists.
Focusing on Customer Experiences
While we are unlikely to ever be a fan of the new parking garage at the airport, we are supportive of the airport’s new “modernization” plan. It will demolish the south ends of concourses A and C, bringing the gate count down from 83 to 60. One of our complaints about the tens of millions of dollars spent on the parking garage was that the garage should have bene smaller and some of the money should have been spent to improve the customer experience in the airport.
That’s what we like about the new plan. It will add more moving walkways, widen corridors, enlarge boarding areas, make ceilings higher, and increase natural lighting. There are many who oppose this plan because they feel that it is surrendering and admitting that our future will never be as good as our past.
We think that is a given, and while it is cold comfort, other airports like Cincinnati have made similar decisions in light of their drastic decreases in daily flights. Many airports around the country look just as abandoned and deserted as ours. Some cities like Nashville who lost their hubs have recovered strongly although they never reached the same activity as they had in the past.
In other words, much remains to get done. It’s time for the airport to shed its aerotropolis tagline and it’s time for city and county mayors to bring the membership of the Airport Authority current. It’s way past time for a new website, but the good news is that is underway along with some other innovations by Mr. Thomas.
Catch-22
The economic realities and market challenges facing airlines today are well-documented. The same goes for the economic realities and market challenges of the Memphis region as well. That’s why we have to be realistic while remaining hopeful about the future. Nashville has proven that it can be done, but it also proves that it takes time.
That said, our community faces a chicken and egg scenario. A lethargic local economy is a drag on the airport authority’s ability to attract more flights, and conversely, the lack of more flights is a drag on the economy.
With three years before the local economy returns to pre-2008 levels, patience is more than a virtue. It is a necessity.
Anecdote: My bro-in-law flew in from Oregon via Delta Airlines a couple week ago on Oct 22. He changed planes somewhere – Dallas I think. There was quite a lot of people at the gate in Dallas waiting to get to Memphis. A Delta rep made an announcement that if anyone was willing to give up their seat for a later flight, Delta would give them $200 in airline credit. Crickets. $400! Crickets again. It went all the way up to $800 to go from Dallas to Memphis. Folks came forward for $800.
I was born and raised in the Memphis area. However I moved to Cincinnati, Oh, in 1999. From the start, I dealt with high fares here at CVG just like I had with MEM. Many times we would either fly out of Dayton or Columbus, to get lower fares. Those cities are way closer in drive time, than it was from Memphis to either Little Rock or Nashville. So it was worth the drive to the other Ohio cities to get a lower fare. I always paid those high fares when I lived in Memphis.
Also, here at the Cincinnati airport, since Delta has cut so many flights now, they are barely a hub. They had 3 terminals, and now they have converged all airlines to one terminal, using only 2 of the three concourses it has at that terminal. When the times I have flown out of CVG, it is a ghost town as well.
I believe the Memphis Airport may have reached rock bottom. With only 83 passenger flights per day to very few destinations (mostly hub cities) there seems to be room for at least a few additional routes, especially to western destinations. It’s very difficult to fly west without backtracking via Atlanta, Houston or Minneapolis.
Southwest Airlines has chosen not to offer more flights and has no nonstops to the west because it’s research has shown that the market for those flights just doesn’t currently exist in Memphis. Delta Air Lines and other carriers have also acknowledged this resulting in the very sad state of MEM today.
Memphis is a city and region that is severely economically challenged and not rapidly growing as some other cities are. Everyone always compares Memphis to Nashville, yet there are few similarities between them any longer. Nashville and the entire Middle Tennessee region are absolutely on fire with population growth and huge economic development, tourism and conventions. Memphis and the Mid South simply are not. Nashville eclipsed Memphis many years ago. Until something changes, MEM will offer very few flights for passengers.
Also, the correct name is Delta Air Lines, NOT Delta Airlines.
Thanks, Louis. But we’re really not worried about getting the name right of the airline that devastated Memphis.
Thanks for the observations. They echo many of our blog posts over the years.
This is a story that was really never covered by the local media competently. I remember years ago the talk about NW airlines fares being so high. In comparison KCMO was not a hub and had many airlines serving them at a lower cost. The WSJ (I believe) did a big front page piece on this and showed how being a hub could really hurt a city. We ignored that here but I think now there is a chance that we can rebuild if those that have control (whoever that is) don’t cave to one airline.
The situation at our airport remains truly sad.
The legacy of Larry Cox is alive and well and it shows just looking at the empty arrivals/departures board.
Yes, it is time to drop that “aerotropolis” slogan and campaign. It’s disgraceful how much money the city has been spent on that folly.
The airport’s website still looks like it was created in the 1990s, and when you click to see the arriving and departing flights it’s just shocking how few flights we actually have today.
It’s good that they are finally trying to update the early 1960s airport terminal and concourses. With only 83 passenger flights per day, we just don’t need many gates. I pity any restaurant or vendor in the terminal because with so few passengers profit will be impossible.
I used the airport last month and it was like a ghost town everywhere. Even my Southwest Airlines flight to Baltimore was only 2/3 full which doesn’t bode well for new flights or destinations. Other passengers were commenting about how empty the airport terminal was.
The airport finally hired an outside marketing firm and media relations manager, but it will take a lot more than smoke and mirrors to change the perception of Memphis International.
The area around our airport still looks horrible with abandoned buildings, porno shops, weeds, trash, potholes and urban blight galore. Welcome visitors to beautiful Memphis, Tennessee!
I think Yvonne and Louis are the same person- and the same troll that has appeared numerous times on this site. Adds nothing to the conversation. Truly sad.
The reality is that nobody wants to fly to Memphis except in a box.
Yes-definetly the same troll with the same insecurities and lack of any supportable facts or worthwhile insight.
i am a professional web designer and could help the airport update their website. It is not a hugely complicated or expensive endeavor. The airport’s current site is really old school in both design and functionality. It really does look like it was created by an amateur 20 years ago.
Still don’t understand why they built a huge parking garage when they are so few passengers and flights. It’s unlikely there will ever be a need for so much parking.
To get the best fares we drive to Little a Rock. To get more nonstop flights and good fares we still drive up to Nashville. Memphis airport is still way too expensive and they are so few flights anymore.
…trolls become very agitated when they are identified as can be seen in the above posts. Typical attempt to derail an otherwise interesting and informative post/ conversation.
For what it is worth at this point- considering some of the banal posts above- the rebound at MEM is enough to support local interest if not excitement. Passenger counts are apparently increasing in response to additional flights and lower airfares, the airlines are reporting that new service is being very well supported with few empty seats, the parking garage has been well received and is being heavily used, consolidation of operations to a renovated Concourse B promises a sustainable and healthy demand for concession operators and improved passenger experience, and the airports website is currently undergoing a major overhaul. In almost every aspect it appears the MSCAA is finally responding to the ample public pressure for improved travel experience and options.
While hub service certainly supports economic growth at the local and regional level, it does not necessarily drive such growth. The past shows us that the Middle Tennessee region’s economic and population growth has largely occurred after American Airlines de-hubbed Nashville. The reasoning provided by American Airlines for closing its Nashville hub after only 10 years of existence strikes a familiar tone for Memphis as well: the lack of local origin and destination traffic. In fact, healthy (even accelerated) economic growth in cities where airline hubs have been closed such as Raleigh and Nashville and the new and/or continued economic prosperity of cities such as Austin and Oklahoma City (which have never served as airline passenger hubs) continues to be a focus of economic study and the occasional story in the media.
I’ve flown out West on Frontier several times in the last year and the flights were either full or very near full every time. FWIW.
The airport may be good for FedEx, but it’s just terrible for passengers. Fares are too expensive and there are very few passenger flights any longer.
Ramey- you probably simply misread the post and/or are not familiar with the current situation at MEM:
MEM currently supports 83 daily flights which represents an increase following the closing of the Delta hub. In addition, these flights have been well received with at least one airline reporting occupancy rates ranging from 97% to 98%. Prices are dropping as Southwest, Frontier and several of the flagship airlines add flights to fill the service gap left by Delta. The situation is actually following a pattern seen in other cities where hubs have been shuttered such as Nashville and Raleigh. Much work remains, but thanks to the major overhaul of the airport itself and to a board that is willing to shift the airport’s focus from that of a major hub to one serving primarily O&D traffic it appears as though MEM is on the right path.
For a city with the population base of the greater Memphis region, including Mississippi and Arkansas, our airport is tiny.
83 total flights each day on all of the airlines serving Memphis is pathetic.
Most flights to/from Memphis are on small regional jets.
We have very few nonstop destinations since most flights are only to the big hubs of Delta, American and United.
Southwest and Frontier have made very little impact in Memphis. It is very difficult to travel west as there are zero nonstop flights from Memphis to Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco/Oakland, Seattle, San Antonio, Austin, etc. If the market demand existed here, these cities would be served.
Air fares are still very expensive. No. 8 most expensive in the US.
Josh- you could not be more off base regarding local and regional population as it relates to airport service. In fact, I think you gave absolutely no knowledge on which to base your opinion. The airport’s rank based on O&D traffic is almost exactly aligned with the city’s rank among U.S. metros by population. As for regional jets- those are used by the flagship carriers and the number of flights utilizing these for service is proportional to other non-hub cities. What is encouraging is the dependence on the use of RJs at MEM is decreasing as increased travel demand has warranted the utilization of larger jets.
West bound service did take a hit, but as most other non-hub cities, service does exist and is but one stop away to all the cities listed. When transfer times are measured in increments of 15 minutes these days, it is hardly a major issue. Then again, the issue is rendered moot by the fact that both Frontier and Southwest have declared their intention of increasing service from MEM to western destinations due to high passenger demand and load factors at MEM.
It is also true that the average airfare out of MEM is ranked quite high among all US airports. However, the average ticket price has declined by roughly 15% in 2 years and promises to continue on this trend as greater competition is introduced to the local market.
FYI: you are not fooling anyone with the different names and tones taken in your posts. You are obviously the same troll that has frequented this site many times in order to disrupt the conversation. Your writing style make it easy to identify you.
Frontier Airlines has announced the termination of flights between Memphis and Dallas/Ft Worth. Yet another obstacle to flying from Memphis.
And today brings even more bad news about the sad state of affairs at Memphis “Regional” Airport — even more flight cuts by Delta.
Effective in January there will be no more service to Dallas, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh. In April service to Washington DC (National will end. Service to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City will become seasonal, not year-round..
Delta has monitored demand for nonstop service from Memphis and concluded that the demand is just not there. With that, it highly unlikely other airlines will step in. A very weak travel market in Memphis
First off, you do not work at the Memphis Flyer, so please do not use that as your user name. We can still see right through your trolling habits in an attempt to undermine whatever constructive criticism this blog is trying to promote in order to fulfill your own selfish, gleeful pleasure of putting others down.
While the news cycle revolving around the airport lately has been bad, it should not be taken as indicative of any “impending gloom and doom” that some on here want to tout at any given opportunity. We’ve known from the get-go that there would be numerous setbacks along the way of progress for the Memphis Airport, but that is where we, the general public, must continue to hold our leaders’ feet to the fire until things change for the better. It took years for former airport hubs like Nashville, St Louis, and Raleigh-Durham to get where they are today, and it will likely take just as long (if not longer) for Memphis to get there.
Wow! The cuts just keep on coming. Delta will be down to 23 total flights per day and the combined daily average for all airlines serving Memphis will be 75 flights per day. This is really depressing and it’s no wonder our business, economic development and tourism are so stagnant.
The airport is just like the city of Memphis…nearly abandoned with no hope for the future.
If everyone were like you, we’d agree.
But the rest of us are fighting for the future rather than sitting on the sidelines, moaning and complaining.
And Lawrence Hill and Magnanimous1, exactly how many different names are you going to use? We think you are up to eight of them.
Most people who live in Memphis are poor and can’t afford to fly anywhere, and if they do travel it’s by car. And there’s just not a lot of people lining up to travel here either. Memphis is pretty much a dead city for business, conventions and tourism. The Memphis airport is a reflection of that.
Now, 9 different names.
It is quite sad to travel from our airport these days. It’s a ghost town with few vendors even open for business.
Hopefully, the airport authority realizes that Memphis will never again be an airline hub or even a focus city because the passenger traffic just does not exist here.
I think it is safe to assume that is number 10 from the individual who has so little actual knowledge where the airport is concerned. SCM: I know you tend to refrain from deleting such posts, but in this case this individual has hindered the ability to have a conversation regarding this and several other topics. If they are not actually interested in holding a real discussion or at least making valid points, I nominate them for deletion.
In contrast to Memphis International, passenger numbers at Nashville International BNA are booming right now. The last two years have been record-setting, with 2014 looking to be a huge year.
Passenger numbers have increased for every month over the previous year for 22 consecutive months (December 2012 was the last month that didn’t best the previous year) and for 50 of the last 51 months, dating back to August 2010.
The latest MNAA news release reveals that October of this year being the busiest month ever at BNA, besting June of this year, which briefly held the record.
Total passengers (enplanements + deplanements) for 2014 so far:
Month – total passengers – % increase over 2013 month
January – 759,607 – 6.2%
February – 728,600 – 5.7%
March – 963,578 – 5.8%
April – 912,578 – 5.5%
May – 990,248 – 3.9%
June – 1,018,119 – 5.6%
July – 1,013,327 – 8.0%
August – 942,777 – 9.1%
September – 909,845 – 11.4%
October – 1,020,598 – 8.6%
2014 total (to dates)- 9,259,977
2013 total – 10,351,709
2013 total (through October) – 8,656,989
2014 % increase (through October) – 6.97%
Projected 2014 total – 11,073,223
Projected passenger increase 2013-2014 +721,514 passengers
More info from http://www.flynashville.com
With more than 10 million passengers visiting each year, Nashville International Airport (BNA) is the sixth fastest growing airport among the top 50 airports in North America. BNA serves 380 flights daily in more than 50 nonstop markets. It is now the 32nd busiest airport in the country, surpassing Austin, Kansas City and Oakland.
Why are you talking about Nashville here? What a troll and a douche. You are obviously lying about those stats too.
I mean- cause you would hope this person realizes how they make N’ville look like a bunch of tools with his posts.
The fact that Nashville lost its hub and found a way to slowly build back a reasonable number of flights for its business and tourism industries should encourage us that there is a similar way to do it here. It is of course unfair to compare where Nashville is today to where Memphis is today, because Nashville has had years to resurrect the airport there. We’re encouraged that they were able to do it because it should make us hopeful for what is possible here.