Aviation Specials – May 2018

M

entioning Memphis is likely to

conjure up thoughts of Elvis

Presley and his Graceland home

in many people’s minds. Music fans might

even support the city’s claim to be the

birthplace of Blues, although New Orleans

contends that right. If that were not

enough, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash,

Roy Orbison, Isaac Hayes, Al Green and

B B King started their careers in western

Tennessee. Memphis also played an

important role in the United States civil

rights movement, and 50 years ago its

leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr, was

assassinated on the balcony of the city’s

Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968.

However, a quick glance at the league

table for cargo airports produces a few

surprises. Most of those topping the chart

are close to commerce hubs or major

manufacturing centres, but three stand

out from the crowd: Anchorage features

because of the freight aircraft that drop

in for fuel en route from Asia to the USA,

while Memphis and Louisville make the

top ten because they are bases for FedEx

Express and United Parcel Service (UPS),

the world’s largest express logistics

fi rms. The growth these businesses have

experienced since the 1970s has been

impressive to say the least and they have

enabled two relatively small US cities to

make indelible marks on the global air

cargo map.

Ups and downs

Excepting the activities of Federal Express

(FedEx since 1994), Memphis has an

unremarkable airport which currently

fails to make the US top 50 for passenger

throughput. Memphis Municipal opened

on June 14, 1929, on 200 acres (81ha)

of farmland, seven miles (11km)

from downtown. It initially

had three hangars and

an unpaved runway,

enabling passenger

and mail

services to be

launched

by American Airlines, and Chicago and

Southern Air Lines. A terminal building

was completed in 1938, and by the early

1950s four hard runways had been laid.

A larger passenger facility with capacity

of 6.5m ppa opened in 1963, leading

Southern Airways to use it as a

hub. Through mergers with

Republic Airlines and

Northwest Airlines

the carrier

TRIPPING THE NIGHT

FANTASTIC

A $27,000 win in a Las Vegas casino helped transform a moderately busy regional airport

into the world’s second busiest cargo hub. Bernardo Andrade reviews the development of

Memphis International while Andy Martin charts the meteoric rise of its largest tenant.

MEMPHIS

Extreme Airports // 35

BELOW: FedEx

Express has

transformed

Memphis from

a medium-sized

regional airport

into a global cargo

hub. (All photos

Angelo Bufalino,

except where

stated)

34-41_Memphis.indd 35 11/05/2018 12:44