Nashville International Airport Development thread

[Lexy]

The airlines throw more frequency at us instead of larger aircraft.

[dxfret]

In my opinion, the single best thing about flying Southwest Airlines is that you will always be on a Boeing 737 and not a regional jet.  Southwest controls about 54% of all flights at BNA, so the majority of flights here are on mainline aircraft.  Some Southwest flights at BNA are using the 737-800 aircraft which are larger than the normal 737-700s they fly.  Delta uses a real mix of aircraft, everything from MD-90s, Boeing 717s, Airbus A320s and regional jets.  American Airlines/US Airways is about the same with a number of 737-800s, MD-80, Airbus 319 and regional jets.  I miss the days of AA mainline aircraft to LaGuardia and Washington National and Chicago O'Hare.  It's my observation that there are far fewer 50 seat regional jets today as most carriers have replaced them with 70 seat RJ's which are not bad at all.  I'm pleased to see United Airlines adding mainline aircraft to Houston, Denver and Chicago.  I hope they do the same to Newark and I certainly hope United will start nonstop service to San Franicisco (SFO).  It's both interesting, and says a lot about the strength of BNA, that we can support at least 5 nonstop flights from BNA to Los Angles (LAX) each day on three different airlines (American, Southwest and Delta).

[UTgrad09]

I can't stand CRJs.

[Lexy]

THIS. There is absolutely no reason the parking ramp at BNA's biggest aircraft are old DC-9 series and 737 series aircraft, with the majority seeming to be little 3 and 4 row regional jets. You'd think that this would be a market that the big airlines would want to start flying more high capacity aircraft through, as it is much more efficient than packing these 30-50 passenger aircraft. Charge a little less to the consumer, and still make more money. It's a win/win.

It is, but I think they want to see long term results.  Also, the airlines are thin with larger aircraft right now.  They went so long without buying new airplanes that they are having to deploy airfcraft where they are sure to make money.

[UTgrad09]

July numbers are in....and they are good. July 2014 numbers were very close to June numbers...and recently July numbers have lagged June numbers. Well....this time they passed June numbers. A BIG increase over July 2014.

June 2014 - 1,018,119

July 2014 - 1,013,327

June 2015 - 1,071,025 (+5.2%)

July 2015 - 1,101,394 (+8.7%)% 

A 6.1% increase in August 2015 would result in 4 consecutive 1,000,000+ passenger months for BNA, which as far as I know, would be a record. For calendar year 2015, we're looking at 11.45 million passengers. If the July increase (8.7%) lasted throughout the fiscal year (July-June 2016), we would end up with 12.17 million passengers. I think that is unlikely to happen...but we do seem on the path to 12 million passengers.

[Lexy]

July numbers are in....and they are good. July 2014 numbers were very close to June numbers...and recently July numbers have lagged June numbers. Well....this time they passed June numbers. A BIG increase over July 2014.

June 2014 - 1,018,119

July 2014 - 1,013,327

June 2015 - 1,071,025 (+5.2%)

July 2015 - 1,101,394 (+8.7%)% 

A 6.1% increase in August 2015 would result in 4 consecutive 1,000,000+ passenger months for BNA, which as far as I know, would be a record. For calendar year 2015, we're looking at 11.45 million passengers. If the July increase (8.7%) lasted throughout the fiscal year (July-June 2016), we would end up with 12.17 million passengers. I think that is unlikely to happen...but we do seem on the path to 12 million passengers.

huge!

[NashRugger]

This is without a doubt probably one of the strongest growth airports that is not a hub facility in the country. I flew back in last night from Boston, which is a very large airport with 4 terminals, and even though it was Southwest, folks were very excited that JetBlue would be returning and seems to be hedging a bet that BNA will be a growth spot for them.

If American doesn't spin the hub back up, which is highly doubtful even with their still large stake in gate space, I would not sleep on JetBlue asserting themselves and muscling in on Southwest's significant control here. They offer the same relative price but JetBlue blows their customer service away. 

Lastly, did some digging and all JetBlue flights in/out of BNA will be on A320s.

Edited August 29, 2015 by NashRugger

[NashRugger]

While not directly here, it makes the trip to Japan for executives that much easier with just one stop. Japan Airlines is returning non-stop service from DFW to Tokyo-Narita November 30th. Take one of the multiple daily directs from BNA to DFW on American and you can fly direct from there on, plus they're doing a codeshare with American as well. 

 

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/japan-airlines-returns-to-dallasfort-worth-international-airport-on-nov-30.html/

[dxfret]

While not directly here, it makes the trip to Japan for executives that much easier with just one stop. Japan Airlines is returning non-stop service from DFW to Tokyo-Narita November 30th. Take one of the multiple daily directs from BNA to DFW on American and you can fly direct from there on, plus they're doing a codeshare with American as well. 

 

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/japan-airlines-returns-to-dallasfort-worth-international-airport-on-nov-30.html/

There have been nonstop flights on American Airlines from DFW to Tokyo for at least 20 years.  The addition of Japan Airlines (American's partner in the OneWorld Alliance) will only help things.  Passengers can also connect to nonstop flights to Tokyo from Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Detroit, Minneapolis or Seattle on various airlines.  The missing connection hub is San Francisco (SFO) which United Airlines badly needs to start nonstop from BNA.

 

Edited September 1, 2015 by dxfret

[franktown]

I'd love to see Virgin America start nonstop service to SFO and LAX. Tried our their product two weeks ago and it was simply wonderful 

[NashRugger]

I'd love to see Virgin America start nonstop service to SFO and LAX. Tried our their product two weeks ago and it was simply wonderful 

They've got a terrific product and just really starting to gain traction with their recent stock IPO and are slowly but surely eyeing spots for expansion. They've got SFO and LAX at hubs and Dallas-Love Field as a focus city, the latter they'll have to wrangle with Southwest to try and expand further from there. 

I do remember before the economic crash that they had grand expansion plans with up to 30 destinations, including Nashville and Jacksonville among others. 

 

Oh, and Alaska Airlines debuts exactly a week from today!

Edited September 17, 2015 by NashRugger

[Lexy]

Why they focus on DFW is beyond me.  There's really nothing about Dallas that excites me.

 

I personally think it's just a matter of time before they show up in Nashville.  They are typically slow to expand.

[NashRugger]

Why they focus on DFW is beyond me.  There's really nothing about Dallas that excites me.

 

I personally think it's just a matter of time before they show up in Nashville.  They are typically slow to expand.

Virgin originally was at DFW but moved closer in to compete directly with Southwest and also be closer into their market, which is geared more towards the younger crowd. One look at their cabin interiors give that away. Plus Dallas is a big aviation city and a good connection city being in the middle of the continent. 

[Lexy]

Virgin originally was at DFW but moved closer in to compete directly with Southwest and also be closer into their market, which is geared more towards the younger crowd. One look at their cabin interiors give that away. Plus Dallas is a big aviation city and a good connection city being in the middle of the continent. 

yeah, but their business plan is point-to-point, not connecting.  They also tend to focus on chic destinations.  The whole Dallas fascination with airlines is confounding to me.  I get the obvious reasons why, but whatever.

[NashRugger]

Dallas is all about money, over the top, and all that crap. I laugh at it, but clearly there's something here that makes it thrive. It's not bad outside of July-mid September.

Apparently Virgin wants Dallas to become a small hub as they slowly expand eastward, which does make sense.

[NashRugger]

Allegedly from what I've heard from friends in Seattle is that Alaska is already considering expanding the number of flights per day since it seems these once dailies will be sold out almost every day. They may also add destinations, such as Portland and San Francisco if things go well.

[NashRugger]

Alaska Airlines' flight 736 the daily from Sea-Tac is scheduled to land about 1545 local time and the airline will in concourse B. I may go and see this come in since I'm off tomorrow.

[NashRugger]

Officially official, welcome Alaska Airlines to Nashville! Flight just landed, it left Seattle a half hour late.

[TNinVB]

Whatever happened with the flight to London? 

[Lexy]

Whatever happened with the flight to London? 

Still waiting.

[titanhog]

Still waiting.

Let's get that Virgin Hotel built and see if we can parlay that into a Virgin direct to London.

[Lexy]

Let's get that Virgin Hotel built and see if we can parlay that into a Virgin direct to London.

Is it going to be built?  LOL!!

[titanhog]

Is it going to be built?  LOL!!

The only thing that makes me think it's going to happen is that I've noticed the Virgin Facebook page is still saying we're the next one...then I think maybe Dallas and Detroit?

[NashRugger]

And we have our launch date for JetBlue's return: May 5th.

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/tourism/fl-jetblue-lauderdale-nashville-flight-20151006-story.html

[markhollin]

I'll post this on behalf of Lexy: As of May next year, all but ONE gate at Nashville International Airport will be occupied. That's 46 of 47 gates. Here is a view from his camera a few days ago: