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Nashville-Tokyo Air Service


ATLBrain

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I think Nashville could fill up a transcontinental nonstop flight in a 777--200 passengers and a very economical, efficient aircraft for smaller cities--if whoever does it could work out some codeshare with Southwest for connecting passengers.

As someone who flys Southwest fairly frequently out of Nashville...I don't think the typical Southwest passenger is looking for a ticket to Tokyo. To be financially successful, a transcon has to have high end business class passengers. Most Southwest passengers are flying on a ticket that cost around $200. That's the main reason they are flying Southwest. They are not the kind of passenger you need for a transcon.

I'm very skeptical that there would be demand sufficient to justify a Tokyo flight. As everybody remembers, the revenues weren't there for a London flight, and there are MANY more people in Tennessee going to London than to Tokyo.

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As someone who flys Southwest fairly frequently out of Nashville...I don't think the typical Southwest passenger is looking for a ticket to Tokyo. To be financially successful, a transcon has to have high end business class passengers. Most Southwest passengers are flying on a ticket that cost around $200. That's the main reason they are flying Southwest. They are not the kind of passenger you need for a transcon.

I'm very skeptical that there would be demand sufficient to justify a Tokyo flight. As everybody remembers, the revenues weren't there for a London flight, and there are MANY more people in Tennessee going to London than to Tokyo.

Southwest shouldn't even enter into this -- They don't typically intermingle with other airlines, which is one of the reasons they're able to keep their low fares. You can't buy a ticket that has Southwest + some other airline on it.

I agree that it seems unlikely for Nashville to get this flight -- even though I'd love to see it happen. Although, it could be that all the Japanese firms around here are just waiting for convenient, nonstop service before going al out on travel between here and there!

David

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Southwest shouldn't even enter into this -- They don't typically intermingle with other airlines, which is one of the reasons they're able to keep their low fares. You can't buy a ticket that has Southwest + some other airline on it.

I agree that it seems unlikely for Nashville to get this flight -- even though I'd love to see it happen. Although, it could be that all the Japanese firms around here are just waiting for convenient, nonstop service before going al out on travel between here and there!

David

They didn't mean that SW was thinking of doing the service, they were comparing customers and saying that most of Nashville's flyers wouldn't be interested in such a service.

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They didn't mean that SW was thinking of doing the service, they were comparing customers and saying that most of Nashville's flyers wouldn't be interested in such a service.

Well, obviously Southwest isn't going to provide over the water service. They're also not likely to provide connecting service to whatever airline might fly the transpac route. That was my point; sorry for the misunderstanding.

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What nonstop international flights does Nashville have now? I looked at flynashville.com and saw Toronto, Ontario and Cancun. I remember picking up a friend at BNA in the late '90's and seeing just one international flight to Mexico, and thought to myself what a waste taxpayer money to have an international setup for one route.

Having flown through Japan multiple times in the last few years, Narita is an extremely busy airport along with Kansi, and Nagoya. I just don't see dedicated flight working for a lower volume flight between Nashville/Tokyo route when you can go through Detroit (the way I usually go), Atlanta, or San Francisco. As mentioned before a layover of 1 hr with a short connecting flight just isn't much when you consider the jetlag.

Anyway, I just don't see the flight being added when flying from BNA through Detroit would only be a couple of hours longer than a direct flight.

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What they need to do is increase the service between Canada and start the service between Nashville and Europe up again. It is bull that is was taken away in the first place. American suckered the city out of money it didn't have, then pulled the rug out from underneath them.

Most of you haved missed the point of the original idea. The idea is to get DIRECT service to Japan, not a connection to a hub in some other place. That defeats the purpose behind Nissan touting this idea. That is whether it happens or not.

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What they need to do is increase the service between Canada and start the service between Nashville and Europe up again. It is bull that is was taken away in the first place. American suckered the city out of money it didn't have, then pulled the rug out from underneath them.

Most of you haved missed the point of the original idea. The idea is to get DIRECT service to Japan, not a connection to a hub in some other place. That defeats the purpose behind Nissan touting this idea. That is whether it happens or not.

I had a neighbor who worked for AA before they pulled the plug here. She said AA made plenty of $$ on the London Gatwick flight - on freight alone! They supposedly were able to make more money on their Caribbean/Latin America service and that's the real reason they gave Nashville the shaft.

As another friend of mine used to say, though, before American pulled out prematurely and left us high and dry, at least they built us a new airport! :thumbsup:

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I had a neighbor who worked for AA before they pulled the plug here. She said AA made plenty of $$ on the London Gatwick flight - on freight alone! They supposedly were able to make more money on their Caribbean/Latin America service and that's the real reason they gave Nashville the shaft.

As another friend of mine used to say, though, before American pulled out prematurely and left us high and dry, at least they built us a new airport! :thumbsup:

Maybe the freight factor will help get a Nashville-Tokyo flight off the ground. With all the Japanese based companies in Tennessee, there could be a huge freight requirement on such a flight.

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There's been a push in Memphis for a NWA nonstop to Tokyo for a few years now. The 777 would be the likely plane. And NWA has been adding Memphis flights as it crawls out of bankruptcy.

I heard this as well. My Dad works for NWA in Minneapolis and there have been talks of a Tokyo-Memphis (direct) flight and increased operations out of Memphis, which could be why the FAA is in process of of increasing MEM's airspace. If NWA does this flight, then there would probably be a stop in Memphis (almost certain) and Memphis gets the direct flight.. again, this is just word of mouth. I would love to see Nashville get the flight but unlikely. I hope i am wrong.

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I heard this as well. My Dad works for NWA in Minneapolis and there have been talks of a Tokyo-Memphis (direct) flight and increased operations out of Memphis, which could be why the FAA is in process of of increasing MEM's airspace. If NWA does this flight, then there would probably be a stop in Memphis (almost certain) and Memphis gets the direct flight.. again, this is just word of mouth. I would love to see Nashville get the flight but unlikely. I hope i am wrong.

I suppose it's possible that Nashville could get a "direct" flight to Tokyo: one with a single, short-ish stop in Memphis with no change of planes. Then Memphis would have the "non-stop" flight. Seems more likely than a non-stop from Nashville and a lot more convenient than changing planes somewhere.

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I suppose it's possible that Nashville could get a "direct" flight to Tokyo: one with a single, short-ish stop in Memphis with no change of planes. Then Memphis would have the "non-stop" flight. Seems more likely than a non-stop from Nashville and a lot more convenient than changing planes somewhere.

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.

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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?

I'm pretty sure there is service to Toronto and Monterrey, Mexico, as well as seasonal service to places like the Bahamas. Currently, AMS is the only transoceanic flight.

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Nashville to Tokyo is a 16-17 hour flight and is at the upper range of a few very expensive jet planes. There are no corporate jets that can make this run without refueling a number of times.

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.

http://www.gulfstream.com/g550/

Nissan would like some airline and Nashville to help with the cost of shuttling its people back and forth non-stop because everyone knows that non-stop is better. I think it would be great, but it seems unlikely to me.

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I had a neighbor who worked for AA before they pulled the plug here. She said AA made plenty of $$ on the London Gatwick flight - on freight alone! They supposedly were able to make more money on their Caribbean/Latin America service and that's the real reason they gave Nashville the shaft.

The holds for freight on the flight were full, most likely; however, passenger loads were horrific on the flight given that AA still routed numerous connections for LGW thru BNA. That's why the flight was dropped.

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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?

Cancun

Toronto

Monterrey (this may have been discontinued)

San Juan

Nassau

Kingston (?)

Montego Bay

a few other caribbean destinations that I can't remember

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I suppose it's possible that Nashville could get a "direct" flight to Tokyo: one with a single, short-ish stop in Memphis with no change of planes. Then Memphis would have the "non-stop" flight. Seems more likely than a non-stop from Nashville and a lot more convenient than changing planes somewhere.

But what would be the purpose of flying a 787/A330/777 on a quick MEM-BNA run? Unless that was the only flight of the day, I can't see that happening. I think your best bet would be perhaps running an A320 from BNA-MEM that arrives 1-2 hours (more towards the latter due to international flight regulations, i suppose) before the MEM-NRT flight and make sure that the flight from Nashville comes in at the gate next to the flight leaving for NRT. Quick and convenient for all!

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