Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority history

The Memphis Municipal Airport, consisting of three hangars and a sod field runway, was dedicated on June 14, 1929.

A modern terminal was built in 1938 to meet the demands for increased commercial passenger service.

When the United States entered World War II, the United States Army assumed control of the Memphis International Airport facilities, halting further expansion and progress until 1947, when the troops vacated the airfield and existing facilities were enlarged.

Memphis International Airport received another huge boost in 1973, when what is now known as FedEx was founded in Memphis, and the company built a sorting facility and an administration building on the airfield.

In 1985, Republic Airlines chose Memphis International Airport as one of its hubs, dramatically boosting commercial passenger service.

In 1986, Republic merged with Northwest Airlines, setting into motion a flurry of construction projects as the airport sought to keep up with the resulting increase in traffic and service.

In early 1994, Northwest Airlines restructured its Memphis hub schedule to have three omni-directional banks, which ended up improving connecting opportunities for passengers and pushed the airline to greater profitability.

In June 1995, Memphis International Airport opened up a new international arrivals facility.

In 1999, Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority officials reached an agreement with Northwest Airlines to renovate and expand the airport to allow Northwest Airlines the opportunity to grow at the hub.

In 2001, a new 9,200-square-foot WorldClub facility opened up.

In 2003, when Northwest Airlines unveiled a new livery, Memphis was one of the stops for the newly painted aircraft, which do traditionally visit an airline's most important hubs.

Perhaps one of the most significant occurrences in the history of Memphis International Airport occurred in September 2004 when the Airport Authority negotiated the historic land swap between the Tennessee Air National Guard (TANG) and FedEx.

In 2007, Northwest Airlines was the largest operating carrier at the airport, with over five million passenger enplanements a year on mainline services.

TANG dedicated its new facilities in September 2008.

In 2013, Delta Air Lines announced plans to drop the Memphis hub citing unprofitability, according to a Reuters report from the time.