Originally Posted by Pilotpip
I think Tony C or somebody told me it had to do with filing an alternate that is close to MEM and not realistic to use if you had to divert.
Standard FedEx alternate for MEM is NQA (Millington Regional Jetport) located 20 miles north of “Elvis Town”. NQA has an ILS; 8000 foot runway; extra large ramp, and FAR 139 certification. The NQA control tower and fire department are open until 2 AM Monday though Friday. These times are for the arrival of the FedEx inbound fleet. FedEx pays for this extra service and it has a tangible cost benefit. It allows FedEx the ability to carry a reduced fuel load on their aircraft and more cargo. This is when the weather is good. If the weather is not good, then FedEx typically uses alternates such as LIT, BNA, STL or BHM and carries extra fuel. Again it is a realistic alternate for good weather only. Some will say that NQA stands for "Not Quite an Alternate". This connotation was not envisioned when it was assigned to Naval Air Station Memphis back in the 40's.