Knoxville's airport gets top marks for growth among US airports in new report

Daniel Dassow, Knoxville News Sentinel
·7 min read

Knoxville's airport ranked highly among all small hub airports in the United States in a first-of-its-kind index that claims to be the first truly objective measurement of commercial air service quality.

The Airport Accessibility Index was created by the Swelbar-Zhong Consultancy, a firm established in 2020 to study the massive structural changes to commercial aviation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ranking takes into account the kind of airlines that service an airport, the size of destination airports, the number of departures and seats on planes and how successfully an airport executes its flight schedule.

At a presentation before the Knoxville Chamber on Oct. 12, Bill Swelbar, the firm's chief industry analyst, gave McGhee Tyson Airport high marks for its continued growth in a tough post-pandemic market.

Of the 80 small hub airports in the U.S., McGhee Tyson Airport ranked No. 19 for 2022 data. That placement puts the airport among the top 85 for air service quality in the nation, including large and medium hubs.

"This is a badge of honor to any community to be in this place," Swelbar said before airport and local business leaders. "During the pandemic, you began to really think about your market. Not only do you have local folks that need to travel and do whatever it is they need to do, you're a destination, too. Not many people get to say they're both, and that's what really cool about what you have."

Here's what sets the ranking apart and what it means for McGhee Tyson Airport and other small hubs, which emerged from the pandemic as winners.

What is a small hub airport?

The Airport Accessibility Index compares airports by their size categories, comparing data for domestic flights in 2019 and 2022.

The Federal Aviation Administration sorts commercial airports into five categories, based on passenger traffic:

  • Large hubs receive 1% or more of commercial enplanements in the U.S. each year. That means at least one out of every 100 passengers that step on a plane in the U.S. do so at these airports.

  • Medium hubs receive 0.25 to 1% of commercial enplanements in the U.S. each year.

  • Small hubs receive 0.05 to 0.25% of commercial enplanements in the U.S. each year.

  • Nonhubs receive less than 0.05% of commercial enplanement in the U.S. each year, but more than 10,000 enplanements annually.

  • Nonprimary nonhubs receive between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements each year.

McGhee Tyson Airport is a small hub, and received around 2.5 million total passengers in 2022. Nashville International Airport is a large hub, by contrast, and received around 20 million total passengers in 2022.

There are 30 large hubs, including the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which received 93.6 million passengers in 2022.

There are 35 medium hubs, including Memphis International Airport.

The U.S. had 19,969 airports in 2022, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and around 500 of those service commercial flights.

Small hub airports did the best at managing severe declines in passenger traffic during the pandemic, and increased their overall air service quality by 27% in 2022 over 2019, more than all other hubs, according to the index.

Airport Accessibility Index takes air carrier differences into account

Most rankings do not account for the very different kinds of airlines that service an airport. For its ranking, the Swelbar-Zhong Consultancy designated four categories of air carriers based on their size, price and function:

  • Network carriers, also called the "Big Three": American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines

  • Southwest Airlines (yes, it gets its own category)

  • Hybrid carriers: Alaskan Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Airways

  • Ultra Low-Cost carriers: Allegiant Air, Avelo Airlines, Breeze Airways, Frontier Airlines, Sun Country Airlines and Spirit Airlines

Five airlines service 26 nonstop domestic flights from McGhee Tyson Airport: Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier and United.

Network carriers are the largest airlines by far, accounting for over half of all enplanements annually. They cater largely to business and international travel, the two kinds that took the biggest hit during the pandemic.

Ultra low-cost carriers did well during the pandemic, offering budget flights to domestic leisure travelers. Over half of the nonstop flights offered from Knoxville are on Allegiant, which made McGhee Tyson one of its hubs in 2018. Allegiant Air, which Swelbar called the "smartest" of the ultra low-cost carriers, allowed McGhee Tyson to make up for service it lost from network carriers.

The litmus test for small hubs coming out of the pandemic will be their ability to offer more service from network carriers, which boost connectivity but require larger aircraft, Swelbar said.

To accommodate bigger planes and more passengers, McGhee Tyson will add 3,500 parking spots by 2026 with a $180 million new parking garage, and will add six additional gates in a terminal expansion slated for completion by 2028.

Knoxville airport outperforms other Tennessee airports in index

At No. 19 out of 80 small hubs, Knoxville's airport ranked higher in its category than any other Tennessee airport in the Airport Accessibility Ranking:

  • Nashville International Airport: No. 26 of 30 large hubs

  • Memphis International Airport: No. 31 of 35 medium hubs

  • McGhee Tyson Airport: No. 19 of 80 small hubs

  • Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport: No. 77 of 80 small hubs

  • Tri-Cities Airport in Blountville: No. 39 of 50 nonhubs included in index

It's not necessarily surprising that McGhee Tyson outperformed other Tennessee airports for their respective categories, given the airport grew faster in 2022 than all other Tennessee airports. McGhee Tyson ranked No. 16 among small hubs for largest growth in local domestic outbound seats offered in 2023 over 2022, adding 166,000 seats, according to data from Swelbar-Zhong Consultancy.

McGhee Tyson also beat out peer airports like Asheville Regional Airport (No. 27), Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (No. 33) and Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (No. 34).

The highest ranked small hub airport is Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, followed by Myrtle Beach International Airport and Louisville International Airport.

McGhee Tyson Airport will continue to weather challenges, consultant says

A hard year might be up ahead for the commercial aviation industry as U.S. carriers add fewer domestic services than in 2023, which ended up being a year of growth for many airports.

Swelbar, a leading industry analyst, expects McGhee Tyson's ranking in the Airport Accessibility Index to only increase, since the airport saw growth in 2023 when many of its peers did not. Airports need a combination of strong economic development and air service quality, and "the Knoxvilles of the world" have figured out this balance, he said.

The Knoxville airport projects it will serve more than 3 million passengers in 2025, according to figures from the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.

One factor that helps Knoxville's airport is that it is not as drained by passengers choosing to drive to a large hub in the region, like Nashville or Atlanta, as some other small airports.

The Airport Accessibility Ranking notably does not take rates of on-time flight arrivals into account. McGhee Tyson ranked the No. 9 worst airport for summer travel in a Forbes ranking earlier this year, largely because of the relatively high amount of flights that arrived late.

Patrick Wilson, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, said many flights arrive late due to weather events in Florida, a popular destination for Knoxville fliers. Wilson said McGhee Tyson's performance in the Airport Accessibility Ranking is owed in large part to Knoxville's growing economy and balanced market of business and leisure travelers.

"When we go talk to the airlines, our main lead-in is Knoxville's a very balanced market, when you look at tourism, at business and corporate travel, governmental travel to (the University of Tennessee at Knoxville), Oak Ridge National Lab," Wilson said. "We're also at an income level where we support our own outbound leisure travel."

As recently as two months ago, the airport said it was in talks with Southwest Airlines, which appeals to business and leisure travelers and tops the Knoxville wish list. Though Wilson said the airline "clearly told us that they want to serve this market," it has been caught up in pilot and aircraft shortages.

Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Knoxville airport McGhee Tyson ranks on air service index