FedEx Express Airlines (Case Study)
In this case study, we will be looking at FedEx Express's hub airports. The airports will include Memphis International Airport (MEM) and Indianapolis International Airport. The focus will be mainly on capacity, traffic, and what is planned for the future of these airports.
FedEx Corporation is one of the largest companies in the courier industry. The company is renowned not just nationally in the United States, but internationally. FedEx Corporation belongs to the parcel service industry segment. The size of the industry segment is quite large in the sense that in the past fifteen years or so, consumers in America have spent beyond fifty billion dollars in shipping packages, parcels and also letters. Also referred to as Federal Express, the company is a big player in the segment and is positioned as one of the trailblazers in the industry segment (FedEx Corporation, 2014). The following paper will analyse two of the major hubs for FedEx Express and analyse their airport space and capacity level and also take into consideration their plans for forthcoming periods.
Memphis International Airport (MEM)
Memphis International Airport serves as a hub for FedEx Express. It employs the hub-and-spoke model and is one of the largest integrated carriers in the world. In particular, FedEx runs its central air hubs in Memphis. Memphis International Airport (MEM) has a multi-modal level of access. It is positioned towards the south of Memphis, Tennessee, at the junction of Interstates I-55 and I-240. The site is also aided by rail, fleeting through the north east of the airport, not more than one mile from FedEx's amenities, and by ship, with the Mississippi River solely 8 miles from the airport. Memphis International airport occupies a 5100-acre site with 3,900 acres hosting the cargo hubs for FedEx (Cosmas and Martini, 2007).
Primary passenger right is to use courses from Winchester Road to the terminal building, at the epicenter of the airport site. Winchester Road intersects the airport into north -- south expanses. The northern section is engaged predominantly by FedEx cataloguing facilities, member of staff parking, administration offices, and aircraft maintenance anchorages, in conjunction with R1, which is oriented east to west. The southern section principally consists of the passenger facilities, which consist of three terminal buildings, in addition to three runways, which are slanted towards north to south (Hao, 2015). MEM has four runways and the configurations of the four runways are listed:
1. R1: 9/27 orientation. 8,946 feet long by 150 feet wide. Asphalt material
2. R2: 18R-36L orientation. 9,320 feet long by 150 feet wide. Concrete material
3. R3: 18C-36C orientation. 11,120 feet long by 150 feet wide. Concrete material
R4: 18L-36R orientation. 9,000 feet long by 150 feet wide. Concrete material (Hao, 2015).
(Fig-1) MEM Airport Layout
In the recent number of years, the annual traffic in MEM airport has significantly declined. The international airport experienced a key stumbling block in the year 2008 after Delta Airlines merged with Northwest Airlines. In following and abiding by the ideologies of dismissed capacity and justification, Delta Airlines decided to drop MEM as a hub, owing to its closeness to Atlanta-Hartsfield. From 2013, MEM has experienced a significant loss in its passenger demand levels as Delta Airlines continues to reduce its flights to about forty every day (Hao, 2015). The following table indicates the annual traffic in the airport for every calendar year since 2000. As indicated the number of traffic declined from 11 million to about 4 million in the present day.
Traffic by calendar year
Year
Passengers
Change from previous year
2000
11,769,213
N/A
2001
11,340,439
3.64%
2002
10,712,059
5.54%
2003
11,033,269
3.00%
2004
10,442,181
5.36%
2005
11,039,077
5.72%
2006
10,806,754
2.10%
2007
10,896,305
0.83%
2008
10,532,095
3.34%
2009
10,229,627
6.37%
2010
10,003,186
2.21%
2011
8,737,641
12.65%
2012
6,753,186
22.71%
2013
4,598,186
31.91%
2014
3,597,601
21.76%
2015
3,758,450
1.04%
(Fig -2) Annual Traffic in MEM Airport
However, having four runways, MEM Airport continues to be the leading location for FedEx's hub, as it has good weather, is situated in the Central Time Zone, and sited optimally in relation to geography. The amount of traffic channelled via this hub make MEM the second busiest airport with regard to cargo traffic in the world, which has huge inferences on forthcoming necessities for growth and forecasts. With regard to future plans for MEM Airport, the hub had a 'The master plan' that was finished in the year 2007, projecting continuous passenger growth, which did not take into consideration the merger between Delta and Northern Airlines and the de -- hubbing of the airport. Taking into account the deteriorating numbers of connecting passengers, MEM Airport needs to extremely go back over its expansion commendations in…
