MEMPHIS, Tenn. (April 22, 2019) – Spring break travelers helped drive significant passenger growth at Memphis International Airport (MEM) in March 2019, with traffic increasing by 9.1% compared to March 2018.

There were nearly 195,000 enplanements in March 2019 compared to 178,531 in March 2018, an increase of more than 16,000. “Enplanement” is a common airport industry term that refers to a passenger getting on a plane. The number of enplanements represents approximately half the total number of passengers, since it does not account for passengers who are deplaning. Thus, nearly 400,000 passengers traveled through MEM in March 2019.  

Airlines are meeting the increase passenger demand with increased capacity: available seats in March 2019 increased by more than 28,000 total and 900 per day.

MEM is expecting growth trends to continue throughout the busy summer, with more than 100 flights per day on peak days.

“These passenger growth trends are very exciting for MEM and our passengers,” said Scott Brockman, President and CEO of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority. “This increase in passenger demand greatly boosts our efforts to relentlessly pursue frequent and affordable air service, and the airlines continue to increase capacity to meet that demand.”