The bright main concourse at McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), with river-rock water features and plantings along the walkway

McGhee Tyson Airport · TYS · Alcoa, Tennessee

The McGhee Tyson airport guide.

Knoxville's airport set a passenger record in 2025 and is in the middle of its biggest build-out in decades. Here is how to park, clear security, find your gate and get to town, checked against the airport's own pages.

Check your travel day All airport guides

Photo: Jackmcafee, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Short answer

McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) is Knoxville's airport, in Alcoa about 12 miles south of downtown. It handled a record 3,630,410 passengers in 2025. Plan to arrive 2.5 hours before departure (airport, June 12, 2026). Parking runs $13 to $22 a day, and a $186 million garage with 3,500 more spaces is due in summer 2027.

Verified Oct 19, 2026

Knox Nonstop is an independent guide, not the airport. For live parking, flight status and official notices, use flyknoxville.com.

The airport

TYS by the numbers

3.63Mpassengers in 2025, an all-time record.

36nonstop destinations on 6 airlines, our October 2026 count.

13gates. New Gate 13 was in use by October 2026.

2.5hours early: the airport's current arrival advice.

Interactive

Flying on a busy day?

TYS has three daily rushes, and Vols home-game weekends set its records. Pick your date to see what to expect and how early to arrive.

Is my travel day a busy one?Checks game weekends, holidays and weekday patterns

Your travel date Departure time (optional)

3 hours before departure

Vols home game weekend: Tennessee hosts Kentucky on Saturday, Nov 7, 2026.
Daily peaks at TYS, per the airport: 5 to 7 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 4 to 6 p.m.

The airport's general advice is 2.5 hours (June 12, 2026). For the Tennessee vs Texas surge it said 3 hours. On other home-game weekends we suggest the same 3-hour cushion; that is our suggestion, not the airport's.

Need a leave-home time? The arrival planner adds your drive and parking.

Every guide

Plan the whole airport.

ParkingRates and the garage$13 to $22 a day, a cost calculator, and the construction detours.

SecurityHow early to arriveThe 2.5-hour rule, the three daily rushes, and a leave-home planner.

TerminalGates, food and Wi-FiGates 1 to 13, what is open when, and an interactive floor plan.

Ground transportGetting to townDrive times to downtown, UT, Oak Ridge and the Smokies, and a ride-cost compare.

Rental carsEight countersWho rents at TYS, where to return, and a true-cost comparator.

HotelsShuttle hotelsSeven hotels with airport shuttles and whose shuttle runs when you land.

Pick-upCurbs and the Phone & Wait lotWhere to meet a rideshare, taxi, hotel van or family.

Game dayFly in for the VolsThe 2026 home schedule and a fly-in, fly-out planner.

NeylandAirport to stadiumShuttles, the clear-bag rule and a bag checker.

Flight PlanThe expansionGarage, Gate 13, the checkpoint and six more gates by 2030.

HistoryWho was McGhee Tyson?A World War I flier, a park gift and the town named for an aluminum company.

Passengers

Growth that outran the building

The terminal was built for about 2.6 million passengers a year. TYS passed that in 2024 and kept climbing. In 2024 it was the fastest-growing of the top 100 U.S. airports by percentage, per U.S. DOT data the airport cited, and October 2025 was its busiest month ever, with more than 358,000 passengers.

20051,845,491

20171,988,019

20192,572,775

20243,256,953

20253,630,410

2027 forecast4.1M

2030 forecast4.7M

The dashed line is the terminal's design capacity: "built to accommodate about 2.6 million passengers annually" (airport, Nov 2024). 2005 is derived from the airport's 2017 release; 2027 and 2030 are the Environmental Assessment forecasts. Years without a figure here are years we have not verified.

Aerial view of Neyland Stadium, the University of Tennessee's football stadium in Knoxville, with its double-deck stands wrapped around the field

Game day

The busiest day in TYS history was a football weekend.

The airport forecast about 10,000 passengers for Sunday, Sept 27, 2026, the day after Tennessee hosted Texas. If you are flying in for a home game, plan around it.

Plan a game trip

Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Flight Plan

What is changing at TYS

The garage

A $186 million, six-story garage with 3,500 more spaces, under way since Nov 7, 2024 and due in summer 2027. A lower-level lane is closed through spring 2027 for its walkway canopy.

Gate 13

The airport added a 13th gate and renumbered gates 7 to 13 in phases starting the week of Sept 21, 2026.

Security

A $10 million federal grant (June 2026) funds a bigger checkpoint, with construction set to begin in fall 2026 (airport, June 2026). Six more gates are targeted for 2030 and a larger terminal for 2035.

The full Flight Plan timeline

Request a nonstop

Where should Knoxville fly next?

Name the city. Every request is counted and the leaderboard goes to the airport's air-service team, the people who pitch new routes to airlines.

… requests from TYS so far

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Questions

How many passengers use McGhee Tyson Airport?

A record 3,630,410 in 2025, according to the airport. That followed 3,256,953 in 2024, when TYS was the fastest-growing of the top 100 U.S. airports by percentage, per U.S. DOT data cited by the airport.

Where is McGhee Tyson Airport?

In Alcoa, Tennessee, in Blount County, at 2055 Alcoa Highway. The airport describes it as 12 miles south of downtown Knoxville. Most drivers reach it on Alcoa Highway (US 129).

How early should I get to the Knoxville airport?

The airport's latest general advice is at least 2.5 hours before departure (June 12, 2026). For the record Tennessee vs Texas weekend it advised 3 hours.

How much is parking at TYS?

Garage $22 a day, Terminal Lots A and B $16, Economy Lots C and G $13, with every lot charging $1 per 20 minutes up to the daily maximum (airport parking map, updated Sep 24, 2026). The Phone & Wait lot is free.

What is Flight Plan?

The airport authority's decade-long growth plan, launched Nov 7, 2024. Its first project is a $186 million, six-story garage adding 3,500 spaces, due in summer 2027. Gate 13, a bigger checkpoint and more gates follow.

Is Knox Nonstop the airport's website?

No. We are an independent guide. The official site is flyknoxville.com, run by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.

Sources