McGhee Tyson Airport will begin replacing old escalators in 2025

Feb 28, 2025

McGhee Tyson Airport will begin the process of replacing its aging escalators later this year, swapping machines that frequently break with higher-tech models from the same company.

The airport's board awarded a $1.1 million contract in October to Kone, the Finnish escalator and elevator engineering firm. The company will begin replacing the downward escalator in the late summer and will replace the upward escalator in early 2026.

The replacements will require each side of the airport's only escalators to be closed for months at a time, though frequent travelers are probably accustomed to not being able to use one side or the other. They are often shut down for mechanical fixes, and parts for the system are getting harder to source.

The terminal building at McGhee Tyson is a 2000 model, and many of its parts are 2000 models, including the escalators. Accommodating more travelers in the terminal is like trying to fit six passengers into a five-seater car, and the escalators can become a pain point for traffic flow when they break.

McGhee Tyson's toasty offering:You can still eat Quiznos in East Tennessee. You just have to get through security first

The terminal was built for up to 2.6 million passengers annually, but the airport served a record 3.3 million passengers in 2024.

Citing the "desperate" need to replace the escalators, the airport's 2025 budget set aside $2.2 million for the project. The actual award to Kone was lower because of a company program that modernizes escalators without requiring the surrounding infrastructure to be entirely stripped out.

The new escalators will have features the current models don't, like the ability to switch between up and down motions depending on traffic needs. Airport officials will replace the new models before they run for 25 years, said Bryan White, vice president of planning and development for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.

It's a lesson the airport has learned the hard way: Don't wait until replacement parts for a system you rely on every day become difficult to find. Trying to maintain an outmoded system has meant escalator outages have lasted longer.

The airport has begun stockpiling replacement parts to address mechanical problems faster. Its timeline for replacing the escalators is comparable to how long it takes at other airports, White said.

The airport will begin replacing the downward escalator around August, with a plan to reopen by December. It will begin replacing the upward escalator in December and reopen it around February.

After its new $185 million parking garage is complete, the airport will expand the number of gates in the terminal and redesign the ticketing and security points. The upgrades will help aid the flow of traffic, including vertically.

"We're gonna have much enhanced vertical transportation throughout the terminal. It would be safe to say you may see multiple banks of escalators and you'll see multiple banks of elevators. We're not looking just to keep the same footprint," White told Knox News.

There are staircases at each end of the terminal building and an elevator nearby the escalators.

The airport has around $700 million of construction to complete in the next decade, and created a "Flight Plan" to help educate passengers. The program comes with its own website.

Escalator safety is no joke. McGhee Tyson must shut down its escalator for a state inspection whenever someone slips and falls on it, adding to the outages.

But when the escalator is broken, why doesn't the airport just treat it like another staircase? It's actually dangerous to walk on an escalator that's out of service, because it's not as stable as a staircase. The chain and gears that hold the stairs in place can give way, leading to injuries.

"It is a large safety hazard to allow folks to walk up an escalator that's not working," White said. "If any of those mechanisms breaks, what you actually have is that whole set of stairs now starts falling with somebody on it."

That's not to mention the safety of crews that could be working on the escalator while it's out of service. For your safety, take the stairs or an elevator if the airport's escalator is out of service, and use the extra time to dream of the future terminal with newer parts.

Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email [email protected].

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