In an effort to attract more airline competition and drive down prices for consumers, the Delta Does Memphis Facebook group has launched ComeFlyMemphis.com, a website that allows consumers to send an email form letter to airlines that do not currently offer service in Memphis. (Delta Does Memphis was founded by Memphian Tom Jones, who was the subject of a recent Flyer cover story by John Branston.)
The Come Fly Memphis website’s intro makes the argument that Memphis International Airport’s $28.6 billion dollar business is one of the largest economic drivers in the state. But with Delta Airlines cutting flights and other airlines only launching a limited number of new flights, Memphis airport users “must fight for our share in the most competitive airport market America has ever seen,” according to the site.
The bottom of the page features an email form letter asking other airlines to take a chance on Memphis. Once the site user enters some basic information, the email is distributed to CEOs from US Airways, United, JetBlue, Southwest, Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant.
“From the beginning of Delta Does Memphis, we thought that the goal was to elevate public awareness about the negative consequences – both economic and personal – of having a fortress hub and the damage done by high airfares, then to get this issue to the front burner of our local civic priorities,and then to conceive of a way for people to take action,” said Jones.
The website is a joint effort between the city and many local corporations, including FedEx, Leadership Memphis, Leadership Academy, Monogram Foods, Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens and Cannada PLLC, Graceland, the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, Emerge Memphis, Commercial Advisors, Howell Marketing Strategies, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, and the Memphis Flyer‘s parent company, Contemporary Media.
