Nashville International Airport Development thread

Sean blackdog · December 19, 2023

Update from BNA.

November 2023.
1,922,406 passengers.

MLBrumby · December 19, 2023

On pace for 24M!

chc3 · December 20, 2023

17 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

On pace for 24M!

I wonder where that puts BNA in the national rankings?

Luvemtall · December 20, 2023

We are getting there!!

Nashcago · December 20, 2023

4 hours ago, Luvemtall said:

We are getting there!!

Not to be a stick in the mud... but these are the 2021 numbers when Covid was weighing down all numbers. ATL in 2022 saw 94 million passengers I believe. BNA is certainly making great strides, but is not a top US airport. I believe BNA is in the neighborhood of #30. Someone correct me if I'm off.

BnaBreaker · December 20, 2023

3 hours ago, Nashcago said:

Not to be a stick in the mud... but these are the 2021 numbers when Covid was weighing down all numbers. ATL in 2022 saw 94 million passengers I believe. BNA is certainly making great strides, but is not a top US airport. I believe BNA is in the neighborhood of #30. Someone correct me if I'm off.

You are correct. As of 2022 Nashville International was ranked the 29th busiest airport in the country, right between Washington Dulles and Chicago Midway, so certainly no slouch by any means!

Luvemtall · December 21, 2023

My bad, didn’t notice the dates . I was looking at things quickly and was at the grocery store when I posted .

markhollin · December 22, 2023

The Tennessean with an overview of how the Airport members hired outside counsel for state-Metro squabble:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2023/12/21/embattled-nashville-airport-board-members-hire-outside-counsel/71989856007/

**Nathan_in_DC** · December 26, 2023

On 12/20/2023 at 6:04 PM, BnaBreaker said:

You are correct. As of 2022 Nashville International was ranked the 29th busiest airport in the country, right between Washington Dulles and Chicago Midway, so certainly no slouch by any means!

I always forget just how small the passenger numbers are for Dulles considering its hub status for United and international destinations on every continent except for Australia and Antarctica. DCA, a MUCH smaller airport with no international service other than Canada, has higher passenger numbers. No doubt it's because Dulles is an hour outside of downtown DC with traffic (or on Metro) whereas DCA is 15 minutes, but it's still surprising to me just how underutilized IAD is.

PillowTalk4 · December 27, 2023

On 12/26/2023 at 10:34 AM, Nathan_in_DC said:

I always forget just how small the passenger numbers are for Dulles considering its hub status for United and international destinations on every continent except for Australia and Antarctica. DCA, a MUCH smaller airport with no international service other than Canada, has higher passenger numbers. No doubt it's because Dulles is an hour outside of downtown DC with traffic (or on Metro) whereas DCA is 15 minutes, but it's still surprising to me just how underutilized IAD is.

For domestic flights, DCA and BWI are more convenient than Dulles to the DMV populous that lives in DC and Maryland. For Northern VA residents living in Alexandria and Arlington, DCA is also more convenient. Even with the Metro Silver Line now stopping at Dulles it's still a long haul for most people. Flights out of Dulles also tend to be more expensive than DCA and BWI. Dulles is a bit better than BWI with international flights. But if you're willing to do a layover in JFK as an example you might find less expensive flights to Europe.

I live between BWI and DCA, so I tend to use both of those airports far more than I do Dulles. When I lived in Alexandria, VA I was only about 10 minutes from DCA, so that was always my go to airport unless BWI or Dulles had better flights and airfares. BWI would typically be better and quite frankly from Alexandria the distance wasn't that much different than Dulles.

With Southwest flying out of DCA now, that has helped to drive down airfares for other airlines operating out of DCA. The last two times that I flew to BNA, I actually flew Delta from DCA. Delta now offers two or three daily non-stop flights from DCA to BNA. The Delta flights in the past year have also been cheaper than Southwest flights out of both BWI and DCA.

**Nathan_in_DC** · December 28, 2023

16 hours ago, PillowTalk4 said:

For domestic flights, DCA and BWI are more convenient than Dulles to the DMV populous that lives in DC and Maryland. For Northern VA residents living in Alexandria and Arlington, DCA is also more convenient. Even with the Metro Silver Line now stopping at Dulles it's still a long haul for most people. Flights out of Dulles also tend to be more expensive than DCA and BWI. Dulles is a bit better than BWI with international flights. But if you're willing to do a layover in JFK as an example you might find less expensive flights to Europe.

I live between BWI and DCA, so I tend to use both of those airports far more than I do Dulles. When I lived in Alexandria, VA I was only about 10 minutes from DCA, so that was always my go to airport unless BWI or Dulles had better flights and airfares. BWI would typically be better and quite frankly from Alexandria the distance wasn't that much different than Dulles.

With Southwest flying out of DCA now, that has helped to drive down airfares for other airlines operating out of DCA. The last two times that I flew to BNA, I actually flew Delta from DCA. Delta now offers two or three daily non-stop flights from DCA to BNA. The Delta flights in the past year have also been cheaper than Southwest flights out of both BWI and DCA.

I live about 10 minutes from DCA now and it's pretty great having an airport so close with such a convenient Metro connection. Great for flying to BNA, too....5 flights on AA, 3 Delta, and 4 SWA gives lots of options on timing and fares. Like I mentioned initially, I doubt I'll ever actually take the Metro to Dulles...it's such a long ride and it dumps you out pretty far from the terminal. And honestly, if I'm flying out of Dulles it's probably for work anyway, which means I can just claim the cab fare for reimbursement. I still wish that WMATA hadn't cheaped out and built it so that they could have alternating express service to DCA after the split from the Orange line. Dulles is really only convenient for people in the east half of Loudon County and the west half of Fairfax County.

I've only flown out of BWI once, going to London, because fares on Air Canada (BWI-YYZ-LHR) were substantially cheaper than the flights from Dulles. Took the MARC train to get there. It was convenient-ish...but the train frequencies made it a challenge.

Sean blackdog · December 30, 2023

Today this evening from Facebook…..

What a beautiful sight. :shok:

Sean blackdog · December 31, 2023

Come from BNA…….

Next few years later.

chc3 · January 1

Yesterday morning

NashRugger · January 1

3 hours ago, Sean blackdog said:

Come from BNA…….

Next few years later.

So let's carve this up for a minute. Obviously these are desired routes, either by the airport and/or passenger inputs.

For Asia/Pacific: Sydney & Seoul are definitely not going to be happening anytime soon. Tokyo is probably the farthest that's even remotely attainable. Honolulu is questionable with whatever is going to happen or not happen with the potential merger of Alaska & Hawaiian.

For Europe: Dublin may be in the deck next to show face, if articles are to be believed. Paris or Frankfurt are my next logical places, with Paris getting a slight edge given the strong Delta presence, thus either being Delta or Air France metal flying with the SkyTeam alliance. Amsterdam is in such a weird flux with the Dutch government attempting to reduce capacity and/or potentially impose new fees on int'l connections at Schipol Airport. Reykjavik, while it seems nice, Iceland would be a seasonal gain at best but it also peaked at a tourist hotspot a few years ago and has actually declined lately.

We'll see what shakes out and hopefully one or two new European routes get announced next year, but I have my doubts without significant incentives. Thanks RDU to the latter piece.

BnaBreaker · January 1

2 hours ago, NashRugger said:

So let's carve this up for a minute. Obviously these are desired routes, either by the airport and/or passenger inputs.

For Asia/Pacific: Sydney & Seoul are definitely not going to be happening anytime soon. Tokyo is probably the farthest that's even remotely attainable. Honolulu is questionable with whatever is going to happen or not happen with the potential merger of Alaska & Hawaiian.

For Europe: Dublin may be in the deck next to show face, if articles are to be believed. Paris or Frankfurt are my next logical places, with Paris getting a slight edge given the strong Delta presence, thus either being Delta or Air France metal flying with the SkyTeam alliance. Amsterdam is in such a weird flux with the Dutch government attempting to reduce capacity and/or potentially impose new fees on int'l connections at Schipol Airport. Reykjavik, while it seems nice, Iceland would be a seasonal gain at best but it also peaked at a tourist hotspot a few years ago and has actually declined lately.

We'll see what shakes out and hopefully one or two new European routes get announced next year, but I have my doubts without significant incentives. Thanks RDU to the latter piece.

Agreed. It's nice to see that they're shooting for the stars, I guess, but it seems like it'd be more practical to secure small potatoes international routes, relatively speaking, like Nassau or Mexico City before going after flights to Australia and South Korea. I mean New York and Chicago don't even have direct flights to Australia. One step at a time, BNA, one step at a time.

NashRugger · January 3

On 12/31/2023 at 10:20 PM, BnaBreaker said:

Agreed. It's nice to see that they're shooting for the stars, I guess, but it seems like it'd be more practical to secure small potatoes international routes, relatively speaking, like Nassau or Mexico City before going after flights to Australia and South Korea. I mean New York and Chicago don't even have direct flights to Australia. One step at a time, BNA, one step at a time.

New York does have service to Auckland and Qantas plans on a nonstop to Sydney likely next year, just a touch too far currently until they get the a 350-10 starting next year. Chicago also has Auckland and Qantas had Brisbane planned before Covid, so those are coming in a close frame of time.

Back to BNA. I could see Nassau getting added by SWA in the future, but they're currently only seasonal to BWI and about to swap FLL to MCO this year. I do think Aeromexico, Viva Aerobus, or Volaris will enter the market with regularly scheduled service at some point very soon. Mexico City, Monterrey, or even both could be in the cards now that Mexico is back to a favorable view of the FAA and adding more routes in the US.

Melrose · January 3

Someone with good knowledge of the situation told me the discussions with Hawaiian Air are real....

markhollin · January 10

Extensive roadwork near Nashville International Airport could wrap up one year to 18 months ahead of schedule — and the airport could pay millions of incentives for those construction crews to put the pedal to the metal.

Terms of a potential framework agreement were discussed at a Jan. 10 operations committee meeting of the Metro Nashville Airport Authority board. The arrangement would involve the authority, the Tennessee Department of Transportation and its contractor on the project, Superior Construction.

The company has a $135 million deal to relocate Donelson Pike and build a new interchange over Interstate 40. Completion of that project unlocks the airport's ability to finish its own plans to double its internal roadway to two miles, and widen it from two lanes to six — ideally easing traffic flow on airport grounds.

Airport CEO Doug Kreulen has been urging TDOT to find a way to accelerate the roadwork from its original end date, May of 2026. According to airport officials, Superior has submitted a revised schedule to TDOT that eliminates 305 days from that timeline, moving it up to July 31, 2025.

TDOT is pushing to take a full year off of that original timeline, which would make the end date May 31, 2025.

At that point, the airport authority would pay Superior Construction an incentive of $33,000 for each day the company shaved off that May 31 target.

Under the proposal, the very earliest the project might be done would be Nov. 30, 2024. That's 547 days earlier than the original deadline — and a potential airport expense of $6 million.

"Somewhere between that 365 [days] and 547 [days] is an achievable target," said Robert Ramsey, the authority's chief operating officer, citing conversations with TDOT engineers. He emphasized that TDOT's negotiations with Superior are ongoing, with a company decision expected any day now.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/01/10/nashville-airport-tdot-donelson-road-construction.html

Rick Dalton · January 11

Sounds good. Just hope the incentive to rush doesn’t create shoddy work

markhollin · January 11

The Airport Terminal Hilton (14 stories, 298 rooms) is set to open next month.

The hotel’s decor was inspired by its location — high-end contemporary restaurant Aviators will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner on the main floor. The lobby area also includes a music lounge with a bar, grand piano and coffee shop.

Other features include an expansive rooftop which offers a pool, fire pit and a sky bar with views of the airport and downtown Nashville. The meeting and event spaces will total 16,500 square feet, including an 8,000-square-foot ballroom and event space.

The hotel is set to open on Feb. 20, nearly two and a half years after the project's groundbreaking. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held in March.

Chartwell’s cost for the hotel approaches $95 million while Metro Nashville Airport Authority's cost of the garage and plaza was approximately $82 million.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/01/11/bna-hilton-hotel-hard-hat-tour.html

Photos courtesy of Martin B. Cherry at NBJ: