Airports & Getting Around Tennessee
Tennessee hosts five primary commercial airports serving different regions rather than one dominant statewide hub: Nashville International (BNA), Memphis International (MEM), McGhee Tyson (Knoxville, TYS), Chattanooga Metropolitan (CHA), and Tri-Cities Regional (TRI) in Northeast Tennessee.
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Learn moreNashville International (BNA) is Tennessee's largest and busiest airport
BNA is Tennessee's largest and busiest airport, serving a record 24.7 million passengers in FY2024-25 (up 4.2% year-over-year) with 114 nonstop destinations, including new transatlantic routes -- a real, growing airport, though genuinely smaller in scale than a global top-5 hub; it functions as a large focus city (notably for Southwest) rather than a hub on the scale of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.
Memphis International (MEM): a real study in contrasts -- a global cargo powerhouse, modest passenger service
MEM remains one of the busiest cargo airports in the world (home to FedEx, the world's largest cargo airline) even as its passenger traffic is comparatively modest -- 4.8 million passengers and 36 nonstop destinations in 2025, since Delta closed its passenger hub there. Anyone relocating to Memphis for logistics-sector work should understand MEM's real cargo scale is a distinct story from its passenger-travel convenience.
McGhee Tyson (Knoxville) and Chattanooga Metropolitan anchor smaller, genuinely more limited regional air access
McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) in Knoxville is served by six airlines (Allegiant, American, Delta, United, Frontier, Avelo), and Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA) is served by United Express, Delta, American Eagle, and Allegiant -- both offer real, meaningful regional access but with genuinely more limited route networks than BNA, worth confirming directly for your specific travel needs.
Confirm your specific target region's nearest airport and route network directly
Because Tennessee's air-travel access is genuinely distributed across several metros rather than concentrated in one dominant hub, confirm the specific airport and route network serving your target region directly -- Nashville's real air-travel advantage over the rest of the state is worth factoring into any relocation decision weighted toward travel convenience.
Key takeaways
- Nashville International (BNA) is Tennessee's largest and busiest airport (24.7M FY2025 passengers, 114 nonstop destinations) -- a real, growing focus-city airport, though smaller in scale than a top-5 global hub.
- Memphis International (MEM) is a real global cargo powerhouse (FedEx's home hub) but offers comparatively modest passenger service (4.8M passengers, 36 nonstop destinations) since Delta closed its passenger hub there.
- McGhee Tyson (Knoxville) and Chattanooga Metropolitan each offer real but genuinely more limited regional air access than BNA.
- Confirm the specific airport and route network serving your target Tennessee region directly, especially if travel convenience matters to your decision.
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