Memphis International

A Legacy of Private Aviation

MEM originated in 1929 as Memphis Municipal Airport initially opened on a 200-acre plot of farmland. Originally consisting of an unpaved runway and three hangars, it received both passenger and air mail service through American Airlines and Chicago and Southern Airlines (which was acquired by Delta Air Lines in 1953). Furthermore, Eastern Air Lines arrived in 1939. During WWII, MEM was used by the U.S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command to send new aircraft overseas. In 1951 there were four runways: 2/20, which was 6,000 feet long; 9/27, which was 6,530 feet long; 14/32, which was 4,370 feet long; and 17/35, which was 4,950 feet long. In April 1957, MEM was served by Delta, American, Southern, Eastern, Braniff, Tran-Texas, and Capital. The first jet arrived in July/August of 1960 in the form of Delta 880s. On June 7th, 1963, the current terminal opened (at the cost of $6.5 million). In 1969, the airport was renamed Memphis International, and in 1985-86 flights to Mexico began through Republic Airlines. In 1974, the terminal was expanded with two new concourses and an extension of the others (at the cost of $31.6 million). While Southern Airways was an important regional carrier at MEM in the 60s, it merged with Republic Airlines in 1979 (the first major merger after the Airline Deregulation Act). Another result of the Act was the development of large hub models at airports. Republic established a large hub at MEM in 1985 (before merging with Northwest Airlines the following year, giving them the hub). The peak of the Northwest hub featured daily flights to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, while in 1995, Tennessee’s first transatlantic flight was launched through Northwest partner KLM (flying to Amsterdam). $12.6 million was spent on a new customs area to accommodate the route, which was later taken over by Northwest (and Delta after it merged with Northwest, until September 2012, when it was discontinued). The merger with Delta led to the scaling back of the hub (which had become a Delta hub after the acquisition) until the hub was discontinued in its entirety in 2013. FedEx began operations at MEM in 1973 and opened its Superhub in 1981. A $114 million renovation of MEM was announced in 2014 by the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, which included the demolition of the largely vacant south ends of Concourses A and C, with the remaining potions mothballed and Concourse B being modernized and expanded (leaving the airport with 60 gates in total). However, the plan only partially came to fruition, with only the south end of Concourse A demolished. At the same time, Concourse B received a full redesign (with the southwest wing of Concourse B to be modernized in a future phase, as it will only be used for incoming international flights in the near term). The amended modernization/expansion was completed in February 2022.