Nashville International Airport Development thread

[MetroTN]

JetBlue is returning to BNA in 2016!

 

http://wkrn.com/2015/06/23/jetblue-to-return-to-nashville-international-airport-in-2016/

Edited June 23, 2015 by MetroTN

[dmillsphoto]

JetBlue is returning to BNA in 2016!

 

http://wkrn.com/2015/06/23/jetblue-to-return-to-nashville-international-airport-in-2016/

 

Hopefully that will expand our options on direct flights down to the Caribbean... 

[NashRugger]

JetBlue returning is a major coup for the airport. We now have 2 more low-cost carriers entering a market that Southwest has a dominate hold on, but it's clear that we want more choices, other cities want more choices to here, and we're growing. 

 

It'd be nice if this was the start of a "focus city" program for us by them as the closest is Orlando, followed by Ft. Lauderdale, JFK, and Boston. I expect them to take spots in Concourse B.

 

Plus, JetBlue codeshares with some pretty significant airlines, such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, Japan Airlines, & Lufthansa. 

Edited June 23, 2015 by NashRugger

[jmtunafish]

JetBlue is returning to BNA in 2016!

 

http://wkrn.com/2015/06/23/jetblue-to-return-to-nashville-international-airport-in-2016/

 

This is great news!  Any new air service out of BNA is welcomed, but particularly on a quality carrier like JetBlue and to someplace like Boston.  Nonstops to Europe are a lot shorter out of Boston.  Any idea why JetBlue isn't coming until spring 2016?  It seems a bit unusual for an airline to make this kind of announcement nearly a year in advance.

[UTgrad09]

May 2015 was the busiest travel month in BNA history, beating out October 2014. That record probably won't last one month.

May 2015 had 1,039,256 total passengers.

October 2014 had 1,020,460

June 2014 had 1,018,119

July 2014 had 1,013,327

May 2014 had 990,248

If June 2015 sees a similar increase, then the fiscal year total for the airport should be close to 11.2 million total passengers (up from 8.96 million in FY 2010).

[volsfanwill]

And remember all the cancelled flights in February.

[Lexy]

I have it on good source, there may be a new international destination announced sooner rather than later.  This would require a little more acceptance for tea time and royalty (if you know what I mean).

[donNdonelson2]

I trust you do NOT mean sweet tea and beauty queens!

[franktown]

That's been a persistent rumor from Airliners. New Orleans folks sure seem sure that they'll be the ones to win, but it would sure be a coup for us!

[Lexy]

That's been a persistent rumor from Airliners. New Orleans folks sure seem sure that they'll be the ones to win, but it would sure be a coup for us!

 

 

It's not going to NOLA.  They love to talk like it's as big an airport as it was in the 90's, but the facts are it's not.  It's nice, but it's not happening.  The numbers just don't back it up for them.  And, let's be honest here...what's a higher profile city right now?

[Guest]

Come on BNA!

 

Some of the numbers referenced above comparing the various contenders   .... this has a decidedly New Orleans slant but worth a look to see what metric the airlines are considering before awarding the new route.

 

http://www.anna.aero/2014/06/25/new-orleans-top-british-airways-us-list/

[MetroTN]

Southwest was good! Thanks to all who helped familiarize me before the trip. I look forward to flying with them again in December. 

[UTgrad09]

May 2015 was the busiest travel month in BNA history, beating out October 2014. That record probably won't last one month.

 

May 2015 had 1,039,256 total passengers.

 

October 2014 had 1,020,460

June 2014 had 1,018,119

July 2014 had 1,013,327

May 2014 had 990,248

 

If June 2015 sees a similar increase, then the fiscal year total for the airport should be close to 11.2 million total passengers (up from 8.96 million in FY 2010).

And the June numbers are in, and indeed June did set a new airport record with 1,071,025 total passengers, an increase of 52,906 over June 2014.

 

BNA ends Fiscal Year 2015 with 11,199,618 total passengers.

[Nathan_in_DC]

Phenomenal. Does anyone have any information on what the design capacity for the current terminal is?

[UTgrad09]

Phenomenal. Does anyone have any information on what the design capacity for the current terminal is?

I don't know, but I don't think we're even close. Lexy might have a better idea of that.

My guess is that we could probably hold an additional ~50% without having to make major modifications. I've been to Salt Lake's airport, which has about 20 million total passengers, and it doesn't really seem much larger (maybe more gates, but the overall design isn't that of a much larger airport). 

Portland (PDX) seems like a slightly larger version of Nashville's.

[NashRugger]

This trend of end over end growth at BNA is the exact reason why airlines are wanting in our market, they will make a profit more likely than not, and everyone loves the shot of taking a bit of SWA's pie at our airport. 

[UTgrad09]

This trend of end over end growth at BNA is the exact reason why airlines are wanting in our market, they will make a profit more likely than not, and everyone loves the shot of taking a bit of SWA's pie at our airport. 

I do wonder if American regrets their premature decision to de-hub us. Maybe they don't. But they gave up a lot of gates in what is now an IT city. 

I hope our greatest growth comes as a result of international interest. Delta probably won't add anything significant due to proximity to Atlanta. American now has a hub in Charlotte because of US Air. I doubt anything will happen, but the curious one for me is United, because they have no hubs in the southeast (Houston and DC being the closest).

[BnaBreaker]

I heard there was chatter about American de-hubbing Charlotte-Douglas.  Any truth to that rumor?

[UTgrad09]

I heard there was chatter about American de-hubbing Charlotte-Douglas.  Any truth to that rumor?

No idea. I'm not tapped into that community.

I did hear some rumors/speculation when American acquired US Air. I wouldn't be surprised by a reduction, but I think a de-hubbing would be a big mistake.

[NashRugger]

JetBlue's return and hopeful success could lead to potential. Their closest hub is Orlando (MCO) followed by Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and Boston Logan (BOS) and that's it for the CONUS besides Long Beach, CA. 

United could grow their presence here being roughly halfway between O'Hare and Houston-Bush.

American has several gates but they're just not in use right now. Charlotte just has no more room and was just in there on Monday and it is VERY cramped, hated it. 

 

Nashville's solid growth and strategic location could been a boon to our future as a potential hub and not just a Southwest "focus city."

[farm_boy]

JetBlue is a potential buyout target of Southwest Airlines 

[NashRugger]

JetBlue is a potential buyout target of Southwest Airlines

Yeah, that won't happen. JetBlue is a far better airline and their shareholders will likely not want to break from a company that is performing well and earning more and more $. I for one would be outraged and the feds probably wouldn't approve of this venture, Southwest trying to bully or buyout competition. AirTran was weak, JetBlue is not.

Southwest's current business model is becoming more unfriendly and they're continually losing market share in existing markets, such as BNA and even their home of Dallas-Love Field because their prices truthfully, outside a few times per year, aren't much cheaper. In fact, I flew American Airlines here to Norfolk instead of Southwest because the roundtrip ticket was over $220 less than if I flew Southwest. Plus, the whole cattle car-like system of boarding is ridiculous.

[AUNash]

JetBlue's return and hopeful success could lead to potential. Their closest hub is Orlando (MCO) followed by Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and Boston Logan (BOS) and that's it for the CONUS besides Long Beach, CA. 

United could grow their presence here being roughly halfway between O'Hare and Houston-Bush.

American has several gates but they're just not in use right now. Charlotte just has no more room and was just in there on Monday and it is VERY cramped, hated it. 

 

Nashville's solid growth and strategic location could been a boon to our future as a potential hub and not just a Southwest "focus city."

So I'm just curious because I haven't really ever known ... What does SWA view as the role of a "focus" city in their system, and what are their others? Is there a hierarchy among their focus cities, and where do we fall?

[AUNash]

Yeah, that won't happen. JetBlue is a far better airline and their shareholders will likely not want to break from a company that is performing well and earning more and more $. I for one would be outraged and the feds probably wouldn't approve of this venture, Southwest trying to bully or buyout competition. AirTran was weak, JetBlue is not.

Southwest's current business model is becoming more unfriendly and they're continually losing market share in existing markets, such as BNA and even their home of Dallas-Love Field because their prices truthfully, outside a few times per year, aren't much cheaper. In fact, I flew American Airlines here to Norfolk instead of Southwest because the roundtrip ticket was over $220 less than if I flew Southwest. Plus, the whole cattle car-like system of boarding is ridiculous.

Recently I've found fares on Delta for first class that were cheaper than SW. But those were flights I was booking at the very last minute for work, so all that was available on SW was their business select fare. I had the impression that if you could book in advance SW would be cheaper, but I haven't compared that lately. I do really like the number of nonstops on SW you can get from BNA.

[NashRugger]

A focus city is like a mini-hub in that from which, from my knowledge, is a large stopping/connecting point for many flights and maintains at least some form of a crew base there but obviously not as large as a hub, such as Dallas-Love or Orlando. On Southwest, you can reach most important cities in the US either nonstop or at most, one stop.