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Memphis International Airport has Northwest Airlines and FedEx hubs, a new runway and the best ontime record in the US
Larry D. Cox may be the happiest airport manager in America. His traffic its growing at a double-digit annual rate; he just opened a new 11,120-ft. runway; he has one large, stable airline dominating his daytime traffic and a second operating at night; he is adding gates and parking spaces and has a master plan to build $800 million worth of new facilities. His airport has good weather, the best ontime record in the US, no capacity constraints and no significant community opposition. His airfield can accommodate considerably more operations than it handles now, but "if we need more runways we'll build more runways."
Cox is president and CEO of the Memphis-Shelby County (Tenn.) Airport Authority. Memphis International Airport is Northwest Airlines' third-largest hub and the world headquarters and principal hub for FedEx. Because of FedEx, it is the world's busiest cargo airport.
Memphis's 2000 passenger total of 11.8 million set a record and Cox expects another this year. The 5.5 billion 16. of cargo handled last year-5.2 billion lb. of it by FedEx-was also the highest-ever total. This year the airport's passenger traffic was up 25% through May but Cox expects "a more modest increase" from June on, with about 15% growth for the year as a whole-in June 2000 Northwest added 48 daily flights, a 25% jump in service. After this year Cox looks for annual passenger increases "in the high single digits."
The airport's passenger transfer rate is "65% and growing," Cox says. Northwest, which accounts for 80% of Memphis's passenger total, transfers 75% of its customers there. Cox points out that Memphis-with 1 million people in the city and 2 million in the region-has more air service per capita than any other US city its size and is the smallest US city with an airline hub.
Right now Memphis has 72 gates on four concourses. Y-shaped Concourse B, in the center of the terminal, is bracketed by the smaller A and C. The concourses are connected behind security by long corridors with moving sidewalks. International flights operate from the end of B, using a lower-level federal clearance area that can...