What do you do when your biggest passenger carrier decides to all but jump ship and leave you with a hole in operations? Memphis International Airport found itself with the same conundrum last year when Delta Air Lines decided to dehub its operation and vastly reduce the number of services.

Since the decision, managers at the Tennessee airport have been mulling the best way forward. On Feb. 20, they announced a bold plan to consolidate and improve the airport by spending a large sum of money on the facility.

Following Delta's departure, Memphis saw a 32 percent drop in passenger enplanements over the previous year, leaving the airport with much fewer destinations and predominantly regional and feeder carriers occupying its gates.

The $114 million solution as announced by the airport, however, sets aside $3 million for demolition of parts of its A and C concourses to improve aircraft traffic flow on the cramped apron, with remaining sections being mothballed. The other $111 million is earmarked to invest in making Concourse B a much more attractive place for travelers to pass through.

The modernization of this 1960s-era structure will see a much-needed opening up to natural light and widening of the gate areas to improve passenger flow. It will also see moving walkways added, new signage and information displays, and raised ceilings.

The airport will see the total number of gates reduce from 86 to 60, with many becoming disused in the mothballed parts of the terminals. The first demolition work will take place later this year, with the bulk of the work on Concourse B taking place starting in 2016. It is anticipated that all phases of the works will be completed in 2020.

But why invest when the airport is in decline and passenger flying options are so reduced?

"We have begun the process of reinventing the Memphis Airport," said Scott Brockman, MSCAA president and CEO. "Part of that reinvention involves consolidating operations so we can better serve our passengers, airlines, concessionaires and employees. More importantly, we’re going to modernize the B Concourse, giving our passengers more room to move, better lighting and more convenience."

Finding such a large sum of money is no easy task — especially when airport management insists passenger fares will not be affected. Instead, the airport will receive federal grant funding and money supplied by Tennessee's Transportation Equity Fund (TEF), which collects taxes from fuel sales across the state and earmarks the money for improvement projects such as this one. Any remainder will need to come from the airport as it creatively manages its own accounts.

Despite the passenger downsizing, Memphis is still a significant airport, with its principal operations actually in cargo. It is designated as a superhub for FedEx Express, which has operated a sizable facility on the northern part of the airport site since 1973 and flies millions of tons globally from the airport.