Nashville-Tokyo Air Service

[monsoon]

Gulfstream and at least one of its competitors can make this run and more. Nissan certainly has planes in its corporate fleet that can reach almost anywhere in the world non-stop.

That is a theoretical range with the plane carrying less than 1/2 a load and does not take into account the flight path the plane must use in order to get to Tokyo which out out of the range of this plane. No commercial plane can reach any point on the planet without a refueling stop.

[jdavidf]

The biggest problem I see with that is that almost assuredly the FAA and TSA would demand that all passengers deplane in Memphis on the return flight, get ther bags, go through customs, and then check their bags back on the plane for the short hop to Nashville. It wouldn't be any easier than making a connecting flight in a hub city. I don't think there's any way they would allow Nashville passengers to stay on the plane and go through customs in Nashville.

Hmm -- good point.. guess I was focused on Nashville TO Tokyo and forgot about the return! I have my doubts about any of this, but it's fun to speculate.

[AmandaHugginkiss]

Does Nashville even have a customs desk for foreigners?

[flith]

Well, it would be quicker to connect through Memphis than Minneapolis or another city, so whatever. Memphis would be a good candidate for this. What other international flights does Memphis have besides Amsterdam?

Having flown to and from Tokyo going through San Francisco to Charlotte, and then Detroit to Charlotte; I can tell you that flying from Nashville to the WSW is out of the way, and will add more time than going through Minneapolis. Minneapolis is on the way and would be a more efficient connection. the flight from Tokyo to Detroit to Charlotte shorter, than the flight from Tokyo to San Francisco to Charlotte. The reason for this is that the shortest way to Japan isn't to go West it is to go NW.

[memphian]

I believe they used to. There is an international arrivals area on Concourse A. It has been in the dark for a while though. It certainly would not take much to create one if needed.

[rettro]

I used BNA's customs desk about 3 years ago when I flew from Nashville to San Jose, Costa Rica. It was a non-stop round trip flight that UPS offers to the public at certain times. I'm not sure if they still offer these kind of flights though.

[Hankster]

Having flown to and from Tokyo going through San Francisco to Charlotte, and then Detroit to Charlotte; I can tell you that flying from Nashville to the WSW is out of the way, and will add more time than going through Minneapolis. Minneapolis is on the way and would be a more efficient connection. the flight from Tokyo to Detroit to Charlotte shorter, than the flight from Tokyo to San Francisco to Charlotte. The reason for this is that the shortest way to Japan isn't to go West it is to go NW.

Minneapolis may still not have nonstop service to Tokyo. The last time I flew to the orient (about 10 years ago) they didn't. The best way was to fly to Detroit, and fly nonstop Detroit to Tokyo. It's only about one hour to Detroit, and because of the Great Circle route that they take over Alaska to get there, it's much closer from Detroit to Tokyo than from Memphis to Tokyo. Frankly, it's going to be pretty hard to beat the current service, unless they can figure out some way to justify a nonstop Nashville-Tokyo flight.

[Lexy]

They currently have a customs desk. This is an INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT with international flights (Canada/Mexico). They are required to have a customs desk that is accesible and open as long as they accept international flights, regardless of where they go or come from. Cargo that is being shipped worldwide has to go through customs as well, so there is plenty of need for such a "desk".

[Skyscrapergeek]

You're right Hank, probably not. I doubt it will but then again, I never thought it possible that Nashville would see the possibility of a thousand footer. I guess anything is possible.

[flith]

Minneapolis may still not have nonstop service to Tokyo. The last time I flew to the orient (about 10 years ago) they didn't. The best way was to fly to Detroit, and fly nonstop Detroit to Tokyo. It's only about one hour to Detroit, and because of the Great Circle route that they take over Alaska to get there, it's much closer from Detroit to Tokyo than from Memphis to Tokyo. Frankly, it's going to be pretty hard to beat the current service, unless they can figure out some way to justify a nonstop Nashville-Tokyo flight.

Oops, I didn't even check to see for sure that Minneapolis had a flight to Narita. I thought I had seen it as an option in a NorthWest magazine. They do here is a sample trip summary:

Outbound Flight

Tue, Oct 24

3:00pm Depart - Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP) Northwest Airlines 19 Adult Fare Rules

Wed, Oct 25

5:25pm Arrive - Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT) Nonstop

Total Travel Time: 12 hrs 25 min

Return Flight

Tue, Nov 14

3:00pm Depart - Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT) Northwest Airlines 20 Adult Fare Rules

10:45am Arrive - Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP) Nonstop

Total Travel Time: 10 hrs 45 min

Like I've said previously a connection in Minneapolis is on the way and would make more sense than a connection in Memphis. I'm all for NorthWest expanding their hub in Memphis, but if there is some demand in Nashville and not enough to fill a big plane, it would make sense to connect in Minneapolis or Detroit.

On a side note flying I've also flown on chartered transports to Japan. The route was Ft. Bragg, NC to Alaska to Japan.

[Bears]

Even with the Chrysler-Daimler company, Detroit has no direct commercial service to Stuttgart. Instead, the company has I believe some private arrangements with a charter company.

Yeah, infact Chrysler-Daimler doesn't even use DTW. Their charters fly out of Oakland County International Airport in suburban Detroit.

[AmandaHugginkiss]

They currently have a customs desk. This is an INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT with international flights (Canada/Mexico). They are required to have a customs desk that is accesible and open as long as they accept international flights, regardless of where they go or come from. Cargo that is being shipped worldwide has to go through customs as well, so there is plenty of need for such a "desk".

Thanks for spelling it out for me, SMART GUY...

I don't remember seeing customs on the many airport maps I look at school.

[Hankster]

Oops, I didn't even check to see for sure that Minneapolis had a flight to Narita. I thought I had seen it as an option in a NorthWest magazine. They do here is a sample trip summary:

Outbound Flight

Tue, Oct 24

3:00pm Depart - Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP) Northwest Airlines 19 Adult Fare Rules

Wed, Oct 25

5:25pm Arrive - Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT) Nonstop

Total Travel Time: 12 hrs 25 min

Return Flight

Tue, Nov 14

3:00pm Depart - Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT) Northwest Airlines 20 Adult Fare Rules

10:45am Arrive - Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP) Nonstop

Total Travel Time: 10 hrs 45 min

Like I've said previously a connection in Minneapolis is on the way and would make more sense than a connection in Memphis. I'm all for NorthWest expanding their hub in Memphis, but if there is some demand in Nashville and not enough to fill a big plane, it would make sense to connect in Minneapolis or Detroit.

On a side note flying I've also flown on chartered transports to Japan. The route was Ft. Bragg, NC to Alaska to Japan.

I agree with you. Now that we know they have a Minneapolis - Narita flight, that would assuredly be the most direct, shortest way to Tokyo from Nashville other than a nonstop Nashville Tokyo flight.

[Lexy]

Thanks for spelling it out for me, SMART GUY...

I don't remember seeing customs on the many airport maps I look at school.

I apologize. I didn't mean to come acrss as a SMART GUY. LOL!! But there is quite a large amount of international travelers at the airport here. All it takes is a short walk through the terminal and you hear the various languages being spoken as people stream out of the concourses. The customs desk here is on the first level I believe.

[northernbizzkit1]

Thanks for spelling it out for me, SMART GUY...

I don't remember seeing customs on the many airport maps I look at school.

I remember that the customs stop at BNA is rather insignificant b/c of the lack of any impressive, long-haul international flight...I mean, you see an RJ to Canada and an A319 to Cancun...while this is an INTERNATIONAL!!!!! airport, as mentioned, the customs area has shrunk after AA left with the money-losing LGW flight...o, and as a correction to Lexy, international cargo doesn't have to be hauled through the customs desk in the commercial terminal.

[pturbo]

That is a theoretical range with the plane carrying less than 1/2 a load and does not take into account the flight path the plane must use in order to get to Tokyo which out out of the range of this plane. No commercial plane can reach any point on the planet without a refueling stop.

The plane has the range to make it. So does the Global Express. That is not a theory. Look at the range map on their site. You would take a somewhat polar route and you would make it non-stop. I don't know about the total weight, but I know that it can make it without being stripped down. Big corporations do it all the time. CEOs are not taking off on non-stop flights worrying about weight and if they are going to make it or not.

[monsoon]

In the fine print they give a range of 6700 NM if you completely fill the plane with fuel which leaves 1800 lbs for the people, luggage and anything else being carried. Assuming that each person is going to average 220lbs in weight including baggage then you can carry 2 pilots and 6 passengers. (this plane normally has a 19 person capacity)

In addition, because of rules that say you have to be 180 minutes from land on one engine, the flight path from Nashville to Tokyo is going to be about 6800 to 7000 nautical miles which is beyond what this plane can handle.

[Lexy]

I remember that the customs stop at BNA is rather insignificant b/c of the lack of any impressive, long-haul international flight...I mean, you see an RJ to Canada and an A319 to Cancun...while this is an INTERNATIONAL!!!!! airport, as mentioned, the customs area has shrunk after AA left with the money-losing LGW flight...o, and as a correction to Lexy, international cargo doesn't have to be hauled through the customs desk in the commercial terminal.

Cargo coming off a plane will have to go through customs though. And as we all know, NWA hauls cargo on their planes like AA and everyone else. That's neither here nor there, but your statement about the "money losing" flight to LGW is debatable in more than one circle around Tennessee. Trust me, they didn't pull out because of a lack of money being made. I can tell you that as a fact. Sources not revealed though. LOL!

What they lacked, and this is in the mid 90's before Nashville really hit a corporate/population boom like now, was First Class customers. Everything else about the plane, including the cargo aspect, was perfect. I think, given the growth and wealth in the area now, that it would more than easily work for AA or whoever has the pair to put that bird in the air again. The hard part is getting someone to step out and do it.

I said this in another forum, and I will say it here. Frontier Airlines is the key to this airports future growth. Come to the meeting Saturday and I will tell you why.

[northernbizzkit1]

Cargo coming off a plane will have to go through customs though. And as we all know, NWA hauls cargo on their planes like AA and everyone else. That's neither here nor there, but your statement about the "money losing" flight to LGW is debatable in more than one circle around Tennessee. Trust me, they didn't pull out because of a lack of money being made. I can tell you that as a fact. Sources not revealed though. LOL!

What they lacked, and this is in the mid 90's before Nashville really hit a corporate/population boom like now, was First Class customers. Everything else about the plane, including the cargo aspect, was perfect. I think, given the growth and wealth in the area now, that it would more than easily work for AA or whoever has the pair to put that bird in the air again. The hard part is getting someone to step out and do it.

I said this in another forum, and I will say it here. Frontier Airlines is the key to this airports future growth. Come to the meeting Saturday and I will tell you why.

haha wish i could/could've...i'm in memphis. What REALLY killed Nashville was whoever was the bright one to suggest building the EXACT SAME HUB a few hours down the road in Raleigh. For money purposes, things were cut from both to where only remnants are left...Raleigh still has a LGW flight due to subsidies. However, my sources that I can't name have mentioned that first class tix coupled with lack of routing and lengthy lagging periods for the flight (along with the hub factor mentioned above) brought the downfall of the flight.

[monsoon]

haha wish i could/could've...i'm in memphis. What REALLY killed Nashville was whoever was the bright one to suggest building the EXACT SAME HUB a few hours down the road in Raleigh.

That would be American Airlines.

When the first opportunity for direct transatlantic service from NC to the UK opened up in the 1980s, an intense competition opened up between American/Raleigh and Piedmont(USAir)/Charlotte. This became a battle of East NC vs West NC and Charlotte and Raleigh have always been rivals. Eventually the feds ruled in Charlotte's favor and this service helped to cement the Piedmont hub as "the hub" in NC. American eventually won a seat to Gatwick from RDU and I think they hold on to it basically because of this history.

American did make a strategic error by building too many hubs in the South and the later retrenchment of the overbuilt de-regulated Airline industry forced American to pull back in both Nashville and Raleigh. Unlike Nashville, the Raleigh served again as a hub in the 1990s for Midway Airlines, but it too has gone out of business.

[memphian]

Why is Frontier "key" to BNA's growth?

[Lexy]

Why is Frontier "key" to BNA's growth?

They fit into the airports future growth model well. Not to mention that their fares aren't so low that they kill the regular carriers like American etc. They aren't quite Southwest, but they aren't ValueJet either. Plus they will be expanding on the east coast at some point and this is a perfect place for them. They have four very succesfull flights here daily and a flight to Mexico from here currently. The amount of time and money they have spent on the service form here speaks volumes for them and their commitment to Nashville.

[northernbizzkit1]

Why is Frontier "key" to BNA's growth?

That's what I'm wondering as well...

Frontier has been cited to start service in MEM. BNA and MEM have both been mentioned as possible locations for secondary hub start-ups for Frontier as opposed to Denver...but the airline is too small, IMO, to make much of an impact at either airport as far as being "key" to growth.

[memphian]

Well bring on the Frontier Hub. It doesn't have to be an enormous hub but I don't think anyone would mind some connecting traffic at BNA these days.

Anyone heard/seen any plans for the remodel of the airport?

[frankliner]

Well bring on the Frontier Hub. It doesn't have to be an enormous hub but I don't think anyone would mind some connecting traffic at BNA these days.

Anyone heard/seen any plans for the remodel of the airport?

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cf...p;news_id=50823

This was in the city paper a few days ago. I think it'll be great to have some local restaurants in there. Hope this is what you were lookin for.