McGhee Tyson Airport is a public/military airport 12 mi south of Knoxville, in Alcoa, Tennessee. It is named for United States Navy pilot Charles McGhee Tyson, who was killed in World War I. Owned by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, it is served by several major airlines and employs about 2,700 people. It is a 30-minute drive to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The airport is the home of McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, an air base for the 134th Air Refueling Wing (134 ARW) of the Tennessee Air National Guard.

History

On August 1, 1930, the original McGhee Tyson airport opened, named for Charles McGhee Tyson. It was built on 60 acre in West Knoxville where West High School is now located. In 1935, the city purchased 351 acre in Blount County for the current airport. On July 29, 1937, an American Airlines Stinson Trimotor (about 10 seats) touched down, the first airline flight; before that, American's Stinsons landed at Island Airport on Dickinson Island east of town. The 1938 directory shows a 3100 ft N–S runway and a 4200 ft NE-SW runway at McGhee Tyson; the 1939 directory shows 4000 ft N–S and 5000 ft NE-SW. The city built a control tower in 1941. The development of TYS helped the City of Alcoa diversify its economy and gain its economic independence from what is today Arconic Inc. (formerly Alcoa Inc.), the world's third largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa Inc. built one of its production plants in Alcoa because of the proximity of dams along the Little Tennessee River which were a hydroelectric energy source for the production of aluminum. In 1951, the United States Air Force built several facilities on the field and 7500 ft runway 5L. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) added an Instrument landing system to runways 5L and 23R in 1959. In 1961, with financing by the Tennessee Air National Guard, runway 5L was extended to 9000 ft. The first scheduled airline jets were Delta DC-9s in December 1965. In 1968, McGhee Tyson built a new air cargo facility; a new passenger terminal opened in 1974, a few years after runway 18/36 closed. Four years later, the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (MKAA) was established. In 1990, runway 5R/23L was rebuilt to 9000 ft. In 1992, the airport authority built a new 21-acre cargo facility on the north side of the airport for Federal Express, UPS and Airborne Express. Buildings were designed to meet the carriers' needs; 90% of the air cargo operations are UPS and Federal Express. Cost of the project was estimated at $9.3 million. In 2000, improvements to the passenger terminal were finished at a cost of $70 million, including two new concourses, 12 new gates, ticket counters, and a Ruby Tuesday restaurant. In 2002 an aircraft maintenance facility was built for Northwest Airlines, serving as their primary CRJ MRO facility. The now-defunct ExpressJet Airlines built a heavy-maintenance hangar near the air cargo facilities for its fleet. In June 2009, a new food court was completed, featuring Starbucks, Quiznos, Cinnabon, and Zia locations. The Zia location was replaced in April 2013 with an Uno Express Pizza. In November 2016, the agency that operates McGhee Tyson received a $27.9 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to complete the next phase of a multi-year runway expansion, the most expensive project the airport ever has undertaken. The north runway, 5L/23R, is being lengthened to 10000 ft. During the work, 3000 ft of that runway were demolished while 6000 ft remained open for small planes. Airliners still land on Runway 5R/23L, which will remain 9000 ft long. On December 17, 2021, the rebuilt 10,000-foot runway 5L/23R reopened.

Facilities

McGhee Tyson Airport covers 2250 acre at an elevation of 986 ft. It has two parallel runways: 5L/23R is 10,000 by 150 feet (3,048 x 46 m) concrete and 5R/23L is 9,000 by 150 feet (2,743 x 46 m) asphalt. The fixed-base operator (FBO) at TYS is Signature Aviation, the parent company of Signature Flight Support. In July 2022 Signature Aviation announced the acquisition of the TAC Air division of TAC (Truman Arnold Companies) and the FBO was rebranded to join the Signature network. Originally, Tac Air first moved into TYS on April 1, 2005, when it purchased Knox-Air, which had operated in TYS since 1974. Then a month later, on May 5, 2005, TAC Air purchased the only remaining FBO, Cherokee Aviation, which had been in operation since 1954. TAC Air combined these two FBOs under their own name, and they were the sole supplier of aviation fuel for commercial, corporate and general aviation aircraft as well as leased hangar space at the airport. In 2023, the airport had 104,459 aircraft operations, averaging 286 per day: 46,858 general aviation, 18,433 air taxi, 9,952 military, and 29,216 air carrier. In 2023, 186 aircraft were based at the airport: 84 single-engine, 26 multi-engine, 50 jet, 22 military, and 4 helicopter. TYS is home to a maintenance base for Endeavor Air, crew base for Allegiant Air, and delivery, maintenance and training centers for Cirrus Aircraft.

Terminal

McGhee Tyson Airport has two levels. The top level is accessed via the curbside drop off and the parking garage. The top level has ticket counters, security, gates, restaurants and shops. It is designed with a Smoky Mountain theme, complete with faux waterfalls and wood carvings of bears. The bottom level is used for car rental counters, three baggage claims, airline offices, and airport offices. There are 12 gates. On a regular day Gates 2 & 4 are used by Allegiant Air, Gate 6 is a common use gate, Gates 8, 10, & 12 are used by American, Gates 1, 3 & 5 are used by Delta, and Gates 7, 9, & 11 are used by United. Gate assignments can be subject to change. In July 2023, the airport announced the planning of a six-gate expansion to the terminal, with a target completion date of 2028, to meet the growing needs of the region. In January 2024, airport officials announced they would be closing part of the airport's long-term parking lot to begin a project that would expand the current garage to six stories and add 3,500 parking spots.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Top destinations

Airline market share

Annual traffic

Note:(a) Includes mail in final 2017 and 2018 total freight data.

Accidents and incidents