RobtheAggie

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...es-at-airport/

Delta Air Lines will relinquish 14 of its 47 gates at Memphis International Airport and shrink its terminal footprint to fit a sharply reduced flight schedule.

Do we need to start a RIP MEM thread?

CJKatl

Hopefully this doesn't change the frequent ATL flights from B27, with its easy access to Interstate BBQ next door.

readywhenyouare

With Delta only operating ~94 flights out of MEM they could easily give up all gates on A and C and half of B. As the number of flights continues to decrease I could see Delta eventually only needing the B gates before getting to the center-point area.

rylan

Saw this one coming....

I think there already was a RIP MEM thread started?

hazelrah

...Meanwhile, another airline will expand flying at MEM:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...es-new-servic/

rylan

Should be interesting if/how DL plays against that. Certainly can't blame the airport for trying to get other business in with how DL is slashing service there.

longing4piedmont

Wow....a total of four new flights a day. I'm sure the folks on Virginia Ave. are shaking in their boots.......

hazelrah

They will start small, and see how it goes - smart business.

Even BWI was not won in a day; it was a many years process.

readywhenyouare

I don't think Delta will really care what anyone else plans to do at MEM. It's not their baby and never was. The article was wrong to state that Delta drove Frontier out of the MEM market several years ago. Northwest drove Frontier out, not Delta. That was way before the merger.

I have some family members who live in Memphis and fly there several times a year. The last time I was there there was only one other Delta aircraft on the ground when we arrived from ATL. DL was outnumbered by UA, AA, US, and FL aircraft. I also noticed US had a mainline aircraft scheduled in from CLT.

Southwest really needs to get their act together with the Airtran merger. I expected better out of them. This integration is taking way too long. I would definitely expect Southwest to add HOU and possibly DAL service.

Delta will make their exit from MEM soon enough. They will maintain service to the hubs (yes, that would include LGA) and will leave the rest of the markets up to someone else. Perhaps there would be enough demand for UA or WN to maybe run a 5X/week flight to LAX.

Deadtail

It's Memphis. I'm surprised it's taking this long.

mrredskin

FedEx is the only company MEM needs to worry about

DLdweeb

And the 717 in that photo will soon be flying in DL colors.

hazelrah

Not sure what your point is; Southwest didn't want 'em and Delta did so presumably it was mutually beneficial.

Back on topic, it will be interesting to see how MEM plays out. The decision was made by DL to pull the plug on MEM so I can't see much of any competitive response by DL.

bfxfd

Just left MEM a couple of hours ago. My flight from DCA went out withb3 empty FC seats. That was a first for me. The airport itself did seem deserted for what should be abuts Friday morning bank of flights. Also noticed just how many CR2s are being used out of there.

formeraa

Wow, there are still "banks" of flights at MEM?!? With 94 total daily flights, the "banks" must be HUGE!