Live flights at Memphis International Airport (MEM)

Memphis Municipal Airport opened in 1929 on farmland south of the city, with little more than a sod landing field and a single hangar. Airmail contractors and early carriers such as Chicago and Southern Air Lines made it a stop on Mississippi Valley routes.

The field grew steadily through the Second World War, when it also served military training and transport flights. In 1963 a striking new terminal designed by local architect Roy Harrover opened, instantly recognizable for its rows of martini-glass concrete columns. In 1969 the airport was renamed Memphis International after gaining customs facilities.

The decision that defined the airport came in 1973, when Federal Express moved its fledgling overnight operation from Little Rock to Memphis, drawn by the central location and dependable weather. The FedEx Express SuperHub grew into the largest cargo sorting operation on the planet, and Memphis ranked as the world's busiest cargo airport from the early 1990s until Hong Kong overtook it, reclaiming the top spot in 2020.

On the passenger side, Memphis was a Northwest Airlines hub for decades, but Delta wound the hub down after the 2008 merger. A modernized, widened Concourse B reopened in 2022, consolidating passenger flights in a single bright concourse.

Memphis operates four runways: three long parallel north-south strips and a crosswind east-west runway, a layout built for simultaneous heavy-jet departures during cargo pushes. Passenger traffic is modest and concentrated in the modernized Concourse B of the single terminal, served mostly by Delta, American, United, Southwest, and Frontier on domestic routes.

The real business happens on the vast FedEx ramps, where waves of freighters arrive late in the evening, packages are sorted overnight, and departures blast out before dawn. Between those waves, the airport can feel almost sleepy, then briefly becomes some of the busiest airspace in North America.