McGhee Tyson Airport had busiest summer ever, despite Frontier cutting two flights

McGhee Tyson Airport had its busiest summer ever in 2024, with more than one million passengers between May and August, even as Frontier Airlines finished the season by pulling multiple flights.

The airport met its high expectations with around 1.2 million passengers after adding seven new flights that airport staff began calling the "summer seven," including some Frontier routes that were later canceled. The new flights included service to New Haven, Connecticut, beginning in May from the airport's newest airline, Avelo . For the first time, McGhee Tyson is offering or has announced nonstop flights to 30 airports .

June was the busiest month in the airport's history with 326,176 passengers, equal to growth of 22% over the same month last year. July fell just under the record, perhaps thanks to the Crowdstrike global IT outage that temporarily grounded flights in Knoxville.

By August, the airport had processed more than 2 million passengers so far in 2024, on a path to reaching 3 million annual passengers for the first time.

Heading into the busy fall break season, airport officials expect to break another monthly record.

"We can anticipate that October may be our busiest month in the airport's history, so that's why we are doing a lot of preparation for especially the time frame from Oct. 1 to Oct. 20, because we expect that is going to be very busy," Becky Huckaby, the airport's vice president of public relations, told Knox News.

Both Knox County and Blount County schools are out for fall break Oct. 7-11. Passengers traveling in October should arrive at the airport two hours before their flight and should be aware of airport parking changes , Huckaby said.

Frontier ends Knoxville flights to Orlando and Philadelphia

One of the seven new summer flights was canceled after just three months when Frontier ended its nonstop service from Knoxville to Philadelphia International Airport on Aug. 11. Frontier also ended its nonstop service from Knoxville to Orlando International Airport, which it had expanded over the summer.

The short-lived flights were two of 43 routes Frontier cut in July in order to address "current industry supply and demand imbalance," the airline said in a statement published by travel blog The Points Guy.

The change, Huckaby said, was "due to not necessarily our market, but overall Frontier air service change."

Both destinations that lost Frontier nonstop service are served by other airlines at McGhee Tyson. American flies to Philadelphia International Airport and Allegiant flies to Orlando International Airport.

Even before it cut those flights, Frontier represented only a small portion of air travel from Knoxville. In June, July and August, the market share of passengers was led by American, according to data shared at the airport's monthly board meeting on Sept. 18:

• American: 33.6%
• Allegiant: 27.2%
• Delta: 21%
• United: 15%
• Frontier: 2.4%
• Avelo: 1%

$185 million airport garage begins construction in November

McGhee Tyson delayed construction of its upcoming parking garage to keep the surface parking lot by the terminal open for the summer. The lot will close in November as crews begin work on the $185 million project, the largest capital expenditure in the airport's history.

At its September meeting, the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners approved a financing plan for the garage, which came in under its projected $190 million budget.

The six-story garage will be the first thing visitors see at the airport, so design firm Gresham Smith and McCarty Holsaple McCarty Architects plan to make the garage mirror the Smoky Mountains. Building the garage, set to be completed in 2027, is the first step of a decades-long expansion of the terminal .

When the terminal was completed in 2000, it was designed for up to 2.6 million passengers annually. McGhee Tyson served more than 2.8 million passengers in 2023.

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

Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe .

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: McGhee Tyson Airport had busiest summer ever, despite Frontier cutting two flights