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cdarr

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I'm a pilot for one of the regional carriers serving NWA and I just don't see NWA cutting off Memphis anytime soon. That talk has been going on since 1990 and MEM is still alive and kicking. NWA serves some decent-sized markets not served from DTW and MSP and the overall load factors are very high on MEM flights compared with the other two hubs; of course, cutting capacity to the bone will help inflate those stats

I hope you are right. If NW shut the hub down in Memphis, it would be devestating for a while until another airline took up the slack. I talk to Delta pilots all the time and the word is that they do not know if they are going to strike. If they do I think it would mean the end of Delta as an airline. I transport several airlines and I get to hear some interesting conversations in the van. Especially if its an American and Delta pilot talking to each other.

With Delta I heard that the union and the airline are about 200 million apart in concessions. So, Atlanta could be hurt badly if Delta goes out of business. This is all speculation but I do not think the pilots will let the airline go under. Who knows?

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However, the MEM hub cannot increase its flight numbers much more because of the terminal layout. DTW and MSP are continuous-flow operations with NWA flights departing and arrving at the same time. MEM uses three banks where all the flight arrive, the passengers change planes, then all the flights depart. The narrow alleyways between the A, B, and C concourses are not efficient for simultaneous arrving and departing flights (wide enough for only one aircraft). Some creative scheduling and reconfiguration of the A and C concourses would help these matters, but for now, MEM is probably limited to 5, maybe 6 banks of 50-65 flights apiece, and that's not a bad number at all.

I never considered the problem of the alleyways, but that certainly makes sense. I've seen some long lines develop while they wait for a mainline a/c to push back and roll out. No way you could have two-way traffic in there.

The airport master plan calls for an "X" shaped satellite concourse with about 60 gates, to be built beyond the existing Concourse B where the fuel farm, flight kitchen and post office are now. It would be connected to the terminal by underground train (a portion of the tunnel is already there). I've seen quotes in the newspaper from Larry Cox and other airport officials to the effect that they are able and willing to build more gates if necessary. Of course, NW will have to get out of Ch. 11 and its situation become much more stable before the airport authority could ever entertain the idea of a bond issue for terminal expansion.

I agree that the hub will probably survive in some form. The biggest threat (apart from NW liquidation) would be if NW were to merge with DL or CO, in which case the operation would likely be absorbed into ATL or IAH, respectively. Never mind how silly it would be to try to cram more flights into perpetually congested Hartsfield.

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When I was at the airport yesterday, I was surprised at how busy it was. There were calls all over the place for people to please take a voucher and go on a different airline or flight because different flights were overbooked. What was surprising was that there were just as many overbooked flights coming from the non-Northwest airlines. Cool stuff. Anyway, I still feel that if Northwest were to merge with Delta, Memphis would still have some form of a hub simply due to Atlanta being overly congested. The big fault with the Memphis layout is how the concourse walkways are entirely too narrow in "B" concourse. This is the busiest one and it has the narrowest walkways. "A" and "C" aren't the high-use concourses (apart from overflow Northwest traffic and Delta flights) and they have the widest walkways...doesn't make sense. However, the one advantage that I see Memphis having as opposed to other airports ranging from Nashville to Philadelphia and Charlotte is that in the terminal, the check-in counters are set back a bit from the front of the terminal. It's insane when it's a crowded time at the Southwest counters at BNA or the US Airways counters in Philly or CLT and there isn't enough room in the terminal to house those waiting. I've seen/experienced people out the door in Philly and Charlotte because of a lack of space between the front door and the check-in desk. Insane. Interesting about the X concourse, cdarr...hope it happens. Maybe it will if that local Memphis lawyer starts up her all 737 airline Liberty Air and bases it out of memphis like she says would happen.

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The big fault with the Memphis layout is how the concourse walkways are entirely too narrow in "B" concourse. This is the busiest one and it has the narrowest walkways. "A" and "C" aren't the high-use concourses (apart from overflow Northwest traffic and Delta flights) and they have the widest walkways...doesn't make sense.

Yes, this is a problem without a doubt. The B terminal and concourse were built first, in 1962. Terminals A and C were completed with their concourses in 1975, but were built with larger gatehouses and wider concourses in anticipation of widebody aircraft. When Republic Airlines (later absorbed into NWA) opened its hub in 1983, they used B since all the gates were contiguous and didn't require people to go in/out of the security area to make a connection. They eventually expanded the junction and the outer ends of the B concourse, but for whatever reason they haven't done that to the "central spine" around gates 1-8. I think the problem is that if they widen the corridor there, it will push those "alleyways" between A/B and B/C even more narrow (see jmduke's post above).

My plan for concourse improvements (apart from creating the new X concourse) would be:

1. Fill in the gaps between Terminals A, B and C to create one long terminal building. Put the NW ticket counters on the west (A) side and all other airlines on the east side.

2. Fill in the spaces between gatehouses on concourses A and C. This will create additional gates suitable for mainline aircraft. Also, extend the C concourse diagonally on the south end, as was done 5 years ago with the A concourse for NW Airlink flights.

3. Widen all of the corridors in B; also raise the ceilings and/or add skylights.

4. NW would have all of the A and B concourses. Mainline flights would use the gates on the outer parts of A and B, while regional jets would use the gates inside the "alley" between A and B.

5. All other airlines would use gates on the C concourse.

One problem this might create are excessive walking distance for NW connections, but this could be mitigated by installing moving walkways in the widened corridors.

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My plan for concourse improvements (apart from creating the new X concourse) would be:

3. Widen all of the corridors in B; also raise the ceilings and/or add skylights.

One problem this might create are excessive walking distance for NW connections, but this could be mitigated by installing moving walkways in the widened corridors.

Whenever the World Runway was opening along with the A concourse expansion a few years ago, there was an article in the paper talking about how the airport was looking to add a second level to the B concourse and to do extremely extensive renovations to it (or so it seemed). Now, this was 5 years ago, so the "extremely extensive renovations" could have been just the rotunda in the middle of B with added concessions. Let's hope that it doesn't end there. It'd be nice to see a full renovation of B...I remember when Detroit was the shame of Northwest due to it being a total garbage stop with nasty carpet and stuff like that....well, now it's Memphis...and that's not cool! 2006 is going to be interesting for MEM considering that you could see Northwest fold. Furthermore, you're most likely going to see the addition of 2-3 new airlines with Air Canda and Jet Blue. Also, it will be interesting to see how the airport operates (and if Northwest attempts to compete) with air service going into Tunica. I agree with you, cdarr, the X concourse would be wonderful, and it would be better to see train service running amongst all the concourses. I always thought that tunnel was for an eventual subway in Memphis...or that's what I've been told

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Whenever the World Runway was opening along with the A concourse expansion a few years ago, there was an article in the paper talking about how the airport was looking to add a second level to the B concourse and to do extremely extensive renovations to it (or so it seemed).

I read that too. There was talk of putting a moving walkway on a second level. I believe that, right now, they are building a moving walkway inside the parking garages. Also, you probably know that they're going to build a new 305 ft control tower right in the middle of the current entrance road. They just completed re-routing traffic exiting the terminal/garage to a new road along side the air cargo buildings. A new entry road will be built along the other side of the parking lots, closer to the hotel.

I always thought that tunnel was for an eventual subway in Memphis...or that's what I've been told

That's probably a possibility as well. I have a 1986 master plan for the airport which shows an underground train going from the front of the terminals to the X concourse. BTW, the same plan also has the outline of a 2nd X concourse even futher south - almost down to Shelby Drive. If this plan was ever fully realized, MEM would have more gates than ATL.

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I have a 1986 master plan for the airport which shows an underground train going from the front of the terminals to the X concourse. BTW, the same plan also has the outline of a 2nd X concourse even futher south - almost down to Shelby Drive. If this plan was ever fully realized, MEM would have more gates than ATL.

That would be hilarious if it ever happened...hard to imagine Memphis becoming like ATL...woah. Going back to what the airport needs...what do you think would happen if a new X concourse were to open? While this would bring mass hell to the airport, I could see them moving the terminals forward to have more room...it seems as though the terminals are getting a bit crammed these days, so I would imaging roomier digs as far as terminals go (perhaps they would have to tear down the old parking garage). enough to where they go in front of the northern end of A and C...that way there would be room for expansion. Plus, you could have a rotunda for concessions like the one in B...just beyond the terminals for passengers and non-passengers...like the Atrium in Atlanta. then you would have a place where the train comes in the whisk you off to that swanky new X!

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Here's an idea for adding capacity which would allow continuous flow operations for NWA (should they ever decide to expand) and would also help other operators and connecting passengers.

Remove the B concourse completely (Gasp!). Expand the C concourse north to about taxiway D and south to near taxiway P (total about 4000' long). South of the terminal connector, the concourse would be double-sided, wider, and the whole facility would have about 50-60 gates, approx. the current total, and that would encompass all aircraft from RJs to A330s. Extra flight capacity would come from the continuous flow setup vs. current flight bank system as the new alley between A and C would be about 1300' wide, enough for simultaneous arrivals and departures. I don't think taxi times would increase because we currently spend a lot of time waiting in the throats of the alleyways waiting for other aircraft to block in. Aircraft could maneuver around waiting aircraft in most cases under the new layout.

Another benefit would be all NWA connections would be in one concourse vs. having to potentially go from A to C as the current layout requires. If you really wanted to get fancy, moving walkways, which are absolutely necessary for a concourse that long, could be augmented by a train above the concourse, a la DTW (if you haven't been to DTW, it is excellent).

All other operators would move to the current A concourse which would be expanded slightly north and straightened to the south. It too should be widened and have moving walkways. A higher roof with a skylight as in the current A concourse dogleg would make the new A more aesthetically pleasing.

Cargo operations displaced by the C concourse expansion would move to an area south of UPS and if we really are ambitious, a 4th parallel runway could be built in the current Airways location. Airways could be relocated west several hundred feet and that would not encroach much on FedEx's training facility. A 4th north-south parallel would allow truly simultaneous IFR departures AND arrivals.

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An airline hub can give people an impression of the city. If the airport wows people in transit, they might also have a favorable impression on the city that they've never even visited. Heres an article from Salon about how a guy who got a good impression by the new consessions and something as small as the signs at MEM written in Chinese and Japanese. Renovating MEM to look like DTW would be awesome especially if we get those underground trains.

http://smartcitymemphis.blogspot.com/2005/...memphis_22.html

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An airline hub can give people an impression of the city. If the airport wows people in transit, they might also have a favorable impression on the city that they've never even visited. Heres an article from Salon about how a guy who got a good impression by the new consessions and something as small as the signs at MEM written in Chinese and Japanese. Renovating MEM to look like DTW would be awesome especially if we get those underground trains.

http://smartcitymemphis.blogspot.com/2005/...memphis_22.html

Very impressive! There is rumor that when Northwest receives the 787 Dreamliner, Memphis is supposed to see a surge in international flights. Apparently plans would be to offer MEM-NRT (Tokyo-Narita) flights as well as flights to South America and expanded Carribean service. Furthermore, codesharing is trying to get a MEM-Paris flight via Air France alongside the MEM-AMS flight and possible expanded transatlantic service. I doubt it would become along the level of Detroit with international flights, but the 787 could bring Memphis international service at the same ranks as Charlotte if not even better. We'll see...considering it all depends on if NWA remains alive

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Here's an idea for adding capacity which would allow continuous flow operations for NWA (should they ever decide to expand) and would also help other operators and connecting passengers.

Remove the B concourse completely (Gasp!). Expand the C concourse north to about taxiway D and south to near taxiway P (total about 4000' long). South of the terminal connector, the concourse would be double-sided, wider, and the whole facility would have about 50-60 gates, approx. the current total, and that would encompass all aircraft from RJs to A330s. Extra flight capacity would come from the continuous flow setup vs. current flight bank system as the new alley between A and C would be about 1300' wide, enough for simultaneous arrivals and departures. I don't think taxi times would increase because we currently spend a lot of time waiting in the throats of the alleyways waiting for other aircraft to block in. Aircraft could maneuver around waiting aircraft in most cases under the new layout.

Another benefit would be all NWA connections would be in one concourse vs. having to potentially go from A to C as the current layout requires. If you really wanted to get fancy, moving walkways, which are absolutely necessary for a concourse that long, could be augmented by a train above the concourse, a la DTW (if you haven't been to DTW, it is excellent).

All other operators would move to the current A concourse which would be expanded slightly north and straightened to the south. It too should be widened and have moving walkways. A higher roof with a skylight as in the current A concourse dogleg would make the new A more aesthetically pleasing.

Good idea...I'd still like to see an X concourse built further to the south. Perhaps the rotunda in B could be preserved as an atrium/terminal for check-ins...an island almost. After check-in, you would ride down escalators to a train station to take you to A, C, or X (which would either go by "B" and have four piers or would cause a renaming frenzy to have A, B, C, D, E, and F concourses). Assuming that Northwest remains in Memphis, you'd see it dominate the C concourse as you mentioned. I'm wondering if it would be better to take over A and demolish the on-site hotel and then just expand the diagonal jut of the concourse to allow more RJ traffic. Perhaps codeshare partners would be crammed with them or they would just be located with all the others in C. Now, for the X...I'd like to see it designated as an international concourse as well as where all the low-cost carriers go. Southwest (yes, hell will freeze first), JetBlue, AirTran, and USAir (eh...) would be located in three legs alongside (I keep hoping for this to happen) where Victory Airlines (see past thread of mine on this) would be hubbed. The remaining leg would be for international flights from Northwest, codeshare partners, and possibly Air Canada. Anyway...that's my dream scenario!

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Good idea...I'd still like to see an X concourse built further to the south. Perhaps the rotunda in B could be preserved as an atrium/terminal for check-ins...an island almost. After check-in, you would ride down escalators to a train station to take you to A, C, or X (which would either go by "B" and have four piers or would cause a renaming frenzy to have A, B, C, D, E, and F concourses). Assuming that Northwest remains in Memphis, you'd see it dominate the C concourse as you mentioned. I'm wondering if it would be better to take over A and demolish the on-site hotel and then just expand the diagonal jut of the concourse to allow more RJ traffic. Perhaps codeshare partners would be crammed with them or they would just be located with all the others in C. Now, for the X...I'd like to see it designated as an international concourse as well as where all the low-cost carriers go. Southwest (yes, hell will freeze first), JetBlue, AirTran, and USAir (eh...) would be located in three legs alongside (I keep hoping for this to happen) where Victory Airlines (see past thread of mine on this) would be hubbed. The remaining leg would be for international flights from Northwest, codeshare partners, and possibly Air Canada. Anyway...that's my dream scenario!

Hey bizzkit, do you by any chance know of any contact info for the FedEx lady behind Victory? I'd like to be able to encourage her to start it up here (and not Pittsburgh), and spread the info around to others to show her there is major support from average joes (part of the market she presumably is catering to) that are rooting for her here.

Also, it's been interesting to see the various plans for the future of the airport. I agree that the cargo operations should be moved southwest. This seems to be prime non-fedex operations territory. You have UPS, and also the new National Guard C5A construction. It would free upsome space for more gates, although if the C terminal ends up to be around 4000 feet, that would be a killer commute for transfers without an airtrack. But combine that with the X-terminal vision, and that would be cause for such an in-house transit system at the airport.

I think a lot needs to happen for that to be necessary. Most important of all would be bringing a lot of the O&D travellers from Memphis back here, instead of going to Little Rock and Nashville for Southwest flights. Another important aspect would be to maintain some major presence from NWA. I don't know if these two scenarios are compatible, at least if Southwest arrives. It doesn't seem like NWA is as visibly antagonistic against JetBlue as they are against Southwest, but maybe that's just the result of the limited readings that I have seen.

If any of these changes occur, then it would also probably require an adjustment in the roads (Especially if the X-terminal means a change in the location of the entrance/ticket counters/baggage claims). One thing I'm very adamant on is an improvement in the interior environment. Bring more natural light in, and make it look bigger. I think the airport authority does a great job (it's hard to argue with the results so far). But I'd love to see more improvements, many of which mirror the suggestions here (international flights, knock on wood, terminal and concourse expansions, and more airlines, including a homegrown one).

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Hey bizzkit, do you by any chance know of any contact info for the FedEx lady behind Victory? I'd like to be able to encourage her to start it up here (and not Pittsburgh), and spread the info around to others to show her there is major support from average joes (part of the market she presumably is catering to) that are rooting for her here.

Penelope Turnbow

Age: 41

Hometown: Savannah, Tenn.

Education: Earned law degree, master's and bachelor's degrees at University of Memphis

Career: 1989-1997, lawyer at FedEx Corp.; 1997-2004, legal counsel for Thomas & Betts Corp.; 2004, started assembling management team for Victory Airlines

That's straight from the article in the Commercial Appeal...sorry that i don't have anything else, though!

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Also, it's been interesting to see the various plans for the future of the airport. I agree that the cargo operations should be moved southwest. This seems to be prime non-fedex operations territory. You have UPS, and also the new National Guard C5A construction. It would free upsome space for more gates, although if the C terminal ends up to be around 4000 feet, that would be a killer commute for transfers without an airtrack. But combine that with the X-terminal vision, and that would be cause for such an in-house transit system at the airport.

I think a lot needs to happen for that to be necessary. Most important of all would be bringing a lot of the O&D travellers from Memphis back here, instead of going to Little Rock and Nashville for Southwest flights. Another important aspect would be to maintain some major presence from NWA. I don't know if these two scenarios are compatible, at least if Southwest arrives. It doesn't seem like NWA is as visibly antagonistic against JetBlue as they are against Southwest, but maybe that's just the result of the limited readings that I have seen.

If any of these changes occur, then it would also probably require an adjustment in the roads (Especially if the X-terminal means a change in the location of the entrance/ticket counters/baggage claims). One thing I'm very adamant on is an improvement in the interior environment. Bring more natural light in, and make it look bigger. I think the airport authority does a great job (it's hard to argue with the results so far). But I'd love to see more improvements, many of which mirror the suggestions here (international flights, knock on wood, terminal and concourse expansions, and more airlines, including a homegrown one).

I've always wondered if you would see the day when FedEx simply takes over the commercial airline portion of the airport and Memphis simply has a massive, hulking cargo airport and a new, shiny commercial one elsewhere. I was always up for one either around Millington, in Fayette County, or have a Cincinatti type thing going and have Memphis-Northern Mississippi International Airport. However, seeing as how much cash is being poured into the airport these days, my scenario is looking dead. Perhaps all the junky hotels and car rental/parking sites around Brooks Road will be torn down and the airport could expand that way...Anyway, seeing as how Northwest gets a hot flash anytime SOuthwest in Memphis is mentioned, I think Victory could be the only way to get Memphis a large presence by an LCC. JetBlue is looking, but it will most likely be flights to JFK, Ft. Lauderdale, and Long Beach. Seeing as how the X concourse could be one with 60 gates...that seems feasible should Victory base in Memphis...The article in the Commercial Appeal claims that Turnbrow intends to have 50 737s flying within 3-5 years of opening up a base. Should it start as banked flights and then grow into continuous operations, there still would never be a time for MEM to have room for Victory...thus, you would be faced with expansion questions...I've also heard that the legs on B could be expanded...Perhaps this would happen and all of Northwest would be in B and A while Victory would operate out of C...still, this seems a little crammed. The X concourse with transit seems like the best option!

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Here's an article from Pittsburg about Victory using there as an HQ.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05285/586682.stm

Hopefully we will get it. The article says that US Air might pull out of Pittsburg but it was written back in October so I don't know whats up with it now.

Maybe the X concourse gets built the saying"build it and they will come" might become applicable to MEM. Even though Pittsburg may be a larger market, Memphis is probably cheaper to run business in. Hopefully they build it near the airport and bring in some nicer, business class hotels to the area. The article also says that freight might also be shipped by Victory so that might be a plus for Memphis.

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The only problem I see with Victory succeeding in Memphis is that it doesn't appear (at least by what I remember) to be a LCC, but more a fixed, reliable-cost carrier.

Also, the article in the CA says that most of the deep-pocket donors have been in the, ugh, northeast...

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I've always wondered if you would see the day when FedEx simply takes over the commercial airline portion of the airport and Memphis simply has a massive, hulking cargo airport and a new, shiny commercial one elsewhere. I was always up for one either around Millington, in Fayette County, or have a Cincinatti type thing going and have Memphis-Northern Mississippi International Airport. However, seeing as how much cash is being poured into the airport these days, my scenario is looking dead. Perhaps all the junky hotels and car rental/parking sites around Brooks Road will be torn down and the airport could expand that way...Anyway, seeing as how Northwest gets a hot flash anytime SOuthwest in Memphis is mentioned, I think Victory could be the only way to get Memphis a large presence by an LCC. JetBlue is looking, but it will most likely be flights to JFK, Ft. Lauderdale, and Long Beach. Seeing as how the X concourse could be one with 60 gates...that seems feasible should Victory base in Memphis...The article in the Commercial Appeal claims that Turnbrow intends to have 50 737s flying within 3-5 years of opening up a base. Should it start as banked flights and then grow into continuous operations, there still would never be a time for MEM to have room for Victory...thus, you would be faced with expansion questions...I've also heard that the legs on B could be expanded...Perhaps this would happen and all of Northwest would be in B and A while Victory would operate out of C...still, this seems a little crammed. The X concourse with transit seems like the best option!

I think the future of cargo operations is completely-integrated intermodal. River/ocean, rail, ground, and air in one location. Prior to Katrina, NO was thinking about doing something along that lines. I'm trying to think of the right place in the metro for something like that. I understand that Millington is a reliever for FDX, but you can't have a world hub that's divided in two locations. I think short term (20 years), expansion will involve stretching north and east, and we might see more submerging of roads as the airport grows. There's lots of room between Shelby Drive and UPS, and, like you said, there's the car rental places. It'll be interesting.

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Here's an article from Pittsburg about Victory using there as an HQ.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05285/586682.stm

Hopefully we will get it. The article says that US Air might pull out of Pittsburg but it was written back in October so I don't know whats up with it now.

Maybe the X concourse gets built the saying"build it and they will come" might become applicable to MEM. Even though Pittsburg may be a larger market, Memphis is probably cheaper to run business in. Hopefully they build it near the airport and bring in some nicer, business class hotels to the area. The article also says that freight might also be shipped by Victory so that might be a plus for Memphis.

Interesting...the Memphis article was from November and made it seem as though it was a fight between Memphis and Pittsburgh. This may be a bias towards Memphis talking, but I'm always against putting in a new, high-use northern hub simply out of how it seems to strap the airline for cash in the winter. What do you see people wearing in Pittsburgh during the winter? Parkas and a hope to not get too much frost bite. What do you see people wearing in Memphis during the winter? Short sleeves and a smile! OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point...look at some of the most profitable airlines right now...Southwest: major focus in Texas, Nashville, and LA. JetBlue: while it has a JFK hub, it's beginning to rely on hubs in Ft. Lauderdale and Long Beach, CA. I seriously think that the LCC option with a southern (MEMPHIS!!!) hub is the best way to go for an airline these days.

The only problem I see with Victory succeeding in Memphis is that it doesn't appear (at least by what I remember) to be a LCC, but more a fixed, reliable-cost carrier.

Also, the article in the CA says that most of the deep-pocket donors have been in the, ugh, northeast...

The Pittsburgh paper mentions that it intends to operate per mile (7 cents?) at the same level that Southwest operates.

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I think the future of cargo operations is completely-integrated intermodal. River/ocean, rail, ground, and air in one location. Prior to Katrina, NO was thinking about doing something along that lines. I'm trying to think of the right place in the metro for something like that. I understand that Millington is a reliever for FDX, but you can't have a world hub that's divided in two locations. I think short term (20 years), expansion will involve stretching north and east, and we might see more submerging of roads as the airport grows. There's lots of room between Shelby Drive and UPS, and, like you said, there's the car rental places. It'll be interesting.

What of importance separates the airport from the river? Not a lot, IMO...yes, the Smith and Nephew HQ is off Brooks Rd, but the airport could begin to creep that way and go intermodal. Not that this would free up a lot of space, but having a tunnel system under the airport for all the roads to run could be a possibility to free up some land. I still just want them to steamroll all the car rental places and junky hotels...when we went to Philadelphia, the rental car places were concentrated immediately outside the parking garage...I don't see why we can't do that and free up a lot of space. Also, I've always wondered (going to what you said about expanding to the North) about how long it would be until the airport stretched right to the interstate. You see a lot of abandoned buildings acting as a buffer between the FDX hub and the interstate...FDX could have ample room if it took over this land.

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What of importance separates the airport from the river? Not a lot, IMO...yes, the Smith and Nephew HQ is off Brooks Rd, but the airport could begin to creep that way and go intermodal. Not that this would free up a lot of space, but having a tunnel system under the airport for all the roads to run could be a possibility to free up some land. I still just want them to steamroll all the car rental places and junky hotels...when we went to Philadelphia, the rental car places were concentrated immediately outside the parking garage...I don't see why we can't do that and free up a lot of space. Also, I've always wondered (going to what you said about expanding to the North) about how long it would be until the airport stretched right to the interstate. You see a lot of abandoned buildings acting as a buffer between the FDX hub and the interstate...FDX could have ample room if it took over this land.

There are a ton of neighborhoods by the river. When you take the interstate out to downtown, it takes quite a while to even get to the refinery area. It's not like barges can drop stuff off, and get transferred to either a train, truck or plane on site.

I think the tunnel system might eventually work for the road east of UPS/new national guard, although Medtronic and other companies are on the western side of that road, so easy access for eighteen-wheelers needs to be accomodated.

Maybe a future idea for parking expansion would accomodate new rental space, although ingress and egress would have to be modified to accomodate the additional concentration of traffic. But I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves.

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There are a ton of neighborhoods by the river. When you take the interstate out to downtown, it takes quite a while to even get to the refinery area. It's not like barges can drop stuff off, and get transferred to either a train, truck or plane on site.

I think the tunnel system might eventually work for the road east of UPS/new national guard, although Medtronic and other companies are on the western side of that road, so easy access for eighteen-wheelers needs to be accomodated.

Maybe a future idea for parking expansion would accomodate new rental space, although ingress and egress would have to be modified to accomodate the additional concentration of traffic. But I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves.

I think you could attain maximum use out of the airport by building perhaps a 10-13 level parking garage that connects to a 3-5 story terminal/administrative building that then has sky bridges or whatever to the terminal...in short, it's Philadelphia International on a smaller scale. In front of the parking garage would be 5-8 car rental places with a few business hotels (a la Marriot or Hilton)...then you could demolish that trash hole of parking lots...argh! As far as full intermodal, I'm guessing it's not gonna happen in Memphis unless you see the airport move elsewhere in about 50 years.

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I like the idea, but there seems to be a ceiling on height of buildings. The Four Points is like 8 stories. The on-site hotel is, what, two stories?

If you can get clearance, great. But for some reason there's a height issue 'round there.

The height issue is for buildings close to runways that could hamper a landing. That's with all airports; however, you can build a 10 level parking structure (which is actually fairly equivalent to your average 8-story building or so). I know Philly has a 15-level parking garage, and it's directly in front of the terminal.

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Building height has been an issue with the new Memphis control tower. The proposed location for the new 350' tower caused problems with 18C/36C terrain clearance criteria and would not have allowed Category 2/3 approaches (below 200' cloud ceiling heights). The airport authority and the FAA are working on a new location, but the tower will get built eventually.

The airport still plans on going ahead with a new 5-7 story parking garage whose height won't be an issue. Not sure whether it will be close to the terminal above the current short term parking or father north, but Larry Cox (airport director) said they still want to go ahead with it.

As for the intermodal issue, there's really two types, but both have trucks in common. There's water/rail/truck for heavy, less time-intensive items, and air/truck for smaller, more expensive and time-intensive deliveries. Items rarely get transferred from barges or rail directly to air, so a direct link is not terribly important, but a great road system between the port of Memphis/proposed Super Terminal and the airport and surrounding distribution centers is important to cater to the trucks. I think we all realize Lamar between I-240 and the stateline is a bottleneck; wouldn't it be nice if the US 78 to I-22 conversion also made the current Lamar a limited access interstate? The I-55/Crump Blvd. interchange to go to Arkansas from south Downtown is terrible and another bad trucking bottleneck. Interstate access to FedEx's truck inputs on Democrat Rd. could also be improved. Projects such as these would help link the intermodal areas of Memphis.

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Building height has been an issue with the new Memphis control tower. The proposed location for the new 350' tower caused problems with 18C/36C terrain clearance criteria and would not have allowed Category 2/3 approaches (below 200' cloud ceiling heights). The airport authority and the FAA are working on a new location, but the tower will get built eventually.

The airport still plans on going ahead with a new 5-7 story parking garage whose height won't be an issue. Not sure whether it will be close to the terminal above the current short term parking or father north, but Larry Cox (airport director) said they still want to go ahead with it.

As for the intermodal issue, there's really two types, but both have trucks in common. There's water/rail/truck for heavy, less time-intensive items, and air/truck for smaller, more expensive and time-intensive deliveries. Items rarely get transferred from barges or rail directly to air, so a direct link is not terribly important, but a great road system between the port of Memphis/proposed Super Terminal and the airport and surrounding distribution centers is important to cater to the trucks. I think we all realize Lamar between I-240 and the stateline is a bottleneck; wouldn't it be nice if the US 78 to I-22 conversion also made the current Lamar a limited access interstate? The I-55/Crump Blvd. interchange to go to Arkansas from south Downtown is terrible and another bad trucking bottleneck. Interstate access to FedEx's truck inputs on Democrat Rd. could also be improved. Projects such as these would help link the intermodal areas of Memphis.

I heard that 55/Crump might be redesigned, but I think it's just at the proposal stage. I wouldn't mind seeing Lamar turned into interstate-grade, but I think we all know the likelihood of that getting done is at most slightly above zero.

Also, hasn't 55 south of 240 been widened? I remember seeing something along those lines around Brooks and Elvis Presley Blvd...

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