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Memphis International Airport


northernbizzkit1

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I think as long as the current leadership is in place at the airport you gotta believe they will do whatever possible to get more out of MEM than outsiders believe is possible. To our advantage, they've made it pretty attractive to do business there, given what I understand to be relatively low operating costs. Even if NWA departs, I think they are pretty well positioned to bring in an LCC to fill up some of the gap.

I hope it doesn't get to that, and that, instead, we could somehow manage to retain the hub and develop a focus operation for, perhaps, Frontier.

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I think as long as the current leadership is in place at the airport you gotta believe they will do whatever possible to get more out of MEM than outsiders believe is possible. To our advantage, they've made it pretty attractive to do business there, given what I understand to be relatively low operating costs. Even if NWA departs, I think they are pretty well positioned to bring in an LCC to fill up some of the gap.

I hope it doesn't get to that, and that, instead, we could somehow manage to retain the hub and develop a focus operation for, perhaps, Frontier.

I think you guys are right on both above posts - good points.

I guess what I'm wondering though is if it's worth the extra cost to consumers to have a legacy hub here. In booking our Christmas travel, of the four cities we are traveling to, Memphis was the most expensive by $300/seat - so expensive, in fact, we're going to have to drive in and out of here, and fly between the other 3 cities. And Frontier definitely is not living up to it's reputation as an LCC.

I'm really beginning to question the merit of having a hub on grounds other than prestige... It has definitely been shown to drive the cost to locals up, thus reducing our O&D traffic.

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I think you guys are right on both above posts - good points.

I guess what I'm wondering though is if it's worth the extra cost to consumers to have a legacy hub here. In booking our Christmas travel, of the four cities we are traveling to, Memphis was the most expensive by $300/seat - so expensive, in fact, we're going to have to drive in and out of here, and fly between the other 3 cities. And Frontier definitely is not living up to it's reputation as an LCC.

I'm really beginning to question the merit of having a hub on grounds other than prestige... It has definitely been shown to drive the cost to locals up, thus reducing our O&D traffic.

I think it's worth it simply because Northwest provides some international routes that don't really come with LCCs (i.e. Amsterdam) and the potential for more. Plus, it gives us more direct routes than the LCCs that are currently here. Sure, Northwest is expensive, but when you're dealing with Christmas travel, it's expected to be very high...even on Frontier. Airlines have actually CUT capacity for holiday travel this year (US Airways actually is flying 15000+ few seats than it did last year...Northwest is somewhere in the 2-3000 range, per CBS Evening News), so that's why you had to basically book a flight in August to get anything reasonable for the holidays. Yes, it was painful to have to plunk down $350 r/t BOS-MEM yesterday, but keep in mind that we actually have lower fares than plenty of other cities. Having a hub is beneficial for businesses currently here as well as a good selling point for businesses looking to relocate to Memphis.

I think your issue with Frontier, like I said earlier, is just because it's the holiday season. If you fly them any other time, they are a big reason as to why MEM-MCO, MEM-LAS, MEM-DEN, and MEM-FLL fares have nosedived. MEM-DEN was in the $300-$500 range before, and now it's pretty easy to find $150-$250 r/t tix with Frontier. If you monitor it, they do $210 r/t tix on MEM-DEN-LAX flights frequently, but they always go really quickly. I've flown them, and I absolutely love it...I hope they expand, because the ammenities and service on F9 are outstanding

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Pretty bad news...Frontier will be cutting back all service except for MEM-DEN flights starting in January.

On a better note, however, is that Northwest is actually adding capacity on certain routes as new planes arrive. MEM-BOS goes from all RJ to A320 and E175 flights starting towards the end of December, and the E175 and CRJ900 will replace CRJ200 service on numerous routes from the hub. Pretty good news!

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Pretty bad news...Frontier will be cutting back all service except for MEM-DEN flights starting in January.

On a better note, however, is that Northwest is actually adding capacity on certain routes as new planes arrive. MEM-BOS goes from all RJ to A320 and E175 flights starting towards the end of December, and the E175 and CRJ900 will replace CRJ200 service on numerous routes from the hub. Pretty good news!

That is good news for Northwest, but why is Frontier cutting back services? Is it just in Memphis or other cities too?

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That is good news for Northwest, but why is Frontier cutting back services? Is it just in Memphis or other cities too?

Low yields, I assume. Loads were actually excellent on the flights (which is why service was being added as recently as last month); however, with the competition from Northwest and AirTran on the routes, service is discontinuesd. Ya, other cities had cuts as well. Nashville's Cancun service is coming back, but it's only weekend service and then seasonal when it had been year-round up until August, I believe.

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That is good news for Northwest, but why is Frontier cutting back services? Is it just in Memphis or other cities too?

They are cutting back some flights in Canada and Mexico, but in the U.S., Memphis is the only city affected by their cuts. Supposedly, they're blaming the cuts on the price of fuel.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is a bit better than Frontier just because AirTran has so many more options than Frontier does...would love to see a mini-hub...it could happen. A lot of people have criticized LCCs for not tapping into the MEM market...Frontier at least showed that there is LCC demand in MEM...it's flights were packed...the yields were the issue.

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Was reading in a magazine today that Tokyo is about to take over Memphis for Worlds biggest cargo airport. I do realize that the airport can't just keep growing and growing, but does airport have any plans to up the anty? Also, will our presence in China increase our cargo intake? Also, will UPS ever put a major hub here as well, seeing the success of FedEx.

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I would assume the airport has planning in place to keep the airport's capacity and usage at levels that will meet current and future demands to the limitations that the airport's space, facilities, and operational infrastructure will allow.

As far as UPS goes it has a major hub in Louisville they just expanded so I doubt it would need a hub here in Memphis. I'm not sure how much excess capacity the airport's space and infrastructure could allow for at this point - ie could it accomodate another large cargo hub operation. jmduke might know though, so maybe he can answer that question for us.

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Was reading in a magazine today that Tokyo is about to take over Memphis for Worlds biggest cargo airport. I do realize that the airport can't just keep growing and growing, but does airport have any plans to up the anty? Also, will our presence in China increase our cargo intake? Also, will UPS ever put a major hub here as well, seeing the success of FedEx.

Tokyo or Hong Kong? Hong Kong has been up there in the standings. I've never heard that Tokyo has been very high . . .

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Tokyo or Hong Kong? Hong Kong has been up there in the standings. I've never heard that Tokyo has been very high . . .

You may be right, it was one of the two...I was just at the airport getting my new SIDA badge and noticed the article projecting Memphis would lose this status within the year.

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You may be right, it was one of the two...I was just at the airport getting my new SIDA badge and noticed the article projecting Memphis would lose this status within the year.

That's probably inevitable, considering that Hong Kong has been inching ever closer of surpassing us for cargo, and it just might happen this year.

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Also consider that FedEx doesn't care about tonnage, they care about revenue per shipment. They want to carry smaller Priority One and International Priority letters and packages and not the heavy cargo that's prevalent in East Asia. P1 and IP pay the bills; 2Day, Express Saver, Intl Economy, and US Mail "cube" out the aircraft and trucks and tide the company over during market slowdowns.

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It's Honk Kong....though if you look at the data I supplied, you will see that Memphis is stretching the lead this year....it barely placed #1 in 2006, but it has grown faster than HK this year.

Here is a link to all the airport traffic data you would ever want to know.

2006 Final data

http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/dis...54-4819_666_2__

2007 Jan-Aug data

http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/dis...219-227_666_2__

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It's Honk Kong....though if you look at the data I supplied, you will see that Memphis is stretching the lead this year....it barely placed #1 in 2006, but it has grown faster than HK this year.

Here is a link to all the airport traffic data you would ever want to know.

2006 Final data

http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/dis...54-4819_666_2__

2007 Jan-Aug data

http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/dis...219-227_666_2__

I noticed the same thing, but wasn't sure if it was this year or last year that Memphis stretched its lead.

Irregardless, whether or not it's HK or MEM in the near future, Dubai is going to kick everyone's a$$ if their monstrosity gets built and filled. Wow.

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At over four times the size of the old tower this will be a nice addition to the airport. Also, even though KMEM is already an efficient airport, this tower will help for better efficiency as the airport grows.

Speaking of growing, From the beginning of this year to around October, KMEM has had about 80,000 more passengers than last year and over 300 million more pounds of cargo. Also, on another good note, the inbound roadway to the terminal is now complete with new trees, signage, and no stop lights.

Go KMEM! :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

One thing I found interesting about that article was how the guy worked his way up from being a ticket agent for Southern, all the way to that top position at MEM.

Best of all, he didn't even have a college degree.

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