Memphis is Tennessee’s 2nd-busiest airport; it has gained 3 new destinations

Memphis International Airport is perhaps best known for being FedEx’s top hub. In the past, it was also a hub for Northwest and Delta, which is why the airport had significantly more passengers than it does now. That is just the reality of its non-hub status.

Memphis welcomed 4.8 million passengers in 2025. The arrival of Breeze in May 2025 helped, along with the short-lived return of VivaAerobus. While the airport’s traffic was down slightly year-over-year, it was still above what was achieved before the pandemic in 2019. It was its second-best year since Delta closed its Memphis hub in 2013.

American is the largest airline

Cirium schedule data for the first half of 2026 (January-June) shows that Memphis has nearly 1.6 million one-way seats, up 1% from the same six months last year.

If regional units are combined with mainline operators, nine passenger airlines serve Memphis. With 480,000 one-way seats, American is the leading operator. It accounts for 31% of the airport’s capacity, up by a point year-over-year. It continues to have eight routes: Charlotte, Chicago ORD, Dallas DFW, Miami, New York LGA, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington DCA.

Given Breeze’s entry less than a year ago, it is not surprising that it has grown significantly, although from a tiny base. Four routes are now planned: Pensacola, Raleigh/Durham, San Antonio and Tampa. The latest addition is San Antonio, starting 8 May (2-weekly). The market was most recently served by Frontier in 2018 and, before that, by Delta/Northwest.

Atlanta is the top destination

Cirium indicates that Memphis has non-stop passenger flights to 36 airports in the first half of this year. They are in 20 states, with more capacity available to Texas than anywhere else. Louisiana is no longer connected, as Spirit ceased New Orleans flights in March 2025. No state has joined its network since then.

All 36 airports are domestic, with its sole international link (Cancun) last served in S25. Compared to a year ago, flights now exist to New York JFK (Delta), Pensacola (Breeze) and San Antonio (Breeze).

With 244,000 one-way seats, Atlanta remains Memphis’ leading market by simple seats, with most passengers obviously connecting elsewhere. Some 68-weekly flights will be available in March, provided by Delta (66) and Frontier (2). The 10% drop in capacity is because Southwest pulled out in April 2025.

Since January 2019, and based on having at least 1,000 one-way seats, Cirium shows that Memphis has lost flights to Cancun, Destin/Fort Walton Beach, El Dorado, Indianapolis, Knoxville, New Orleans, Oakland, Phoenix AZA, Punta Gorda and Toronto YYZ.