Tunica Municipal Airport - History

History

Development and improvement of the facility, located in the southern portion of the Memphis Metropolitan Area, has increased dramatically since the 1990s. Tunica Municipal is considered as one of the multiple beneficiaries of sales tax revenue generated by the addition of casinos to the county, following approval by the Mississippi Legislature to introduce gaming houses. The growth of the Tunica Resorts region into the third largest gaming destination behind Las Vegas, Nevada and Atlantic City, New Jersey, aided efforts to expand air service beyond charter flights.

The airport opened in 2003 with a 5,500-foot runway. A $5.6 million project in 2004 extended the runway length to 7,000 feet, long enough to accommodate larger aircraft.

In 2005, Tunica received its Part 139 certification to allow large jets from the Federal Aviation Administration. The first large jet, a 125-passenger Boeing 737 operated by Gold Transportation for Harrah's Entertainment, landed in Tunica in November 2005. Prior to this flight, the largest flight that had landed in Tunica had 30 passengers. In May 2006, Boston-Maine Airways operating as Pan Am Clipper Connection, began Tunica's first scheduled service with three Boeing 727 flights per week from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. That service ended in 2006 when the airline lost its routes from Atlanta.

Casino charters continue to fly into Tunica growing passenger traffic despite the loss of the Clipper Connection service. In 2007, the airport had nearly 50,000 charter passengers. The charter traffic continued to grow with the announcement that Allegiant Airlines, would base under a contract with Harrah's Entertainment, to base two Allegiant aircraft at Tunica to ferry customers to Tunica, New Orleans, St. Louis and Council Bluffs, Iowa. In 2008, total passenger traffic to Tunica was more than 70,000 people.

Tunica completed a $40 million project to extend the runway to 8,500 feet, extend the taxiway and build a new hangar. The airport is working on a new terminal building which is expected to be completed in 2010. The passenger terminal will replace the temporary terminal building which has been in operating since the airport opened.

AirTran Airways began nonstop flights from Tunica to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on May 6, 2010 with Boeing 717 aircraft. It was the airport's first commercial service since 2006. However, AirTran ended service on May 2, 2011. Vision Airlines launched service to Destin/Fort Walton on June 1, 2011 but dropped the route a few months later leaving the airport with no commercial scheduled service.