Nashville International Airport Development thread

[titanhog]

Lexy...do you ever see the Smyrna Airport growing into a passenger airport as the metro area continues to grow? With Rutherford and Williamson growing so much, it would seem that another airport could be needed in the next 20-30 years.

[Lexy]

Lexy...do you ever see the Smyrna Airport growing into a passenger airport as the metro area continues to grow? With Rutherford and Williamson growing so much, it would seem that another airport could be needed in the next 20-30 years.

Not likely. It would act more as a corporate airport much like Peachtree-Dekalb Airport does for Atlanta. The expansion plans for BNA call for a second terminal and a fifth runway in the next 20-30 years so any growth in passenger service would occur there.

Now with that said, it is possible a airline like Skybus could set up shop there. Smyrna has shown a willingness to build and provide anything that a passenger airline would need or want out of them at the airport so who knows. But I doubt we will see anything like that in our lifetime.

BNA needs to ramp it's marketing up to prospective airlines and other carriers for more and better expanded service from here. We need to ween ourselves off of Southwest and start to rely more on other carriers for our travel in and out of Nashville. What holds this airport back is Southwest 100%.

FedEx MD-11 service has started BTW!

Edited August 26, 2007 by Lexy

[nashscan]

What holds this airport back is Southwest 100%.

I thought Southwest benefitted Nashville by providing low cost direct service to other cities. Could you explain a little more why Southwest holds BNA back?

[built_ford_tough]

I thought Southwest benefitted Nashville by providing low cost direct service to other cities. Could you explain a little more why Southwest holds BNA back?

Not to speak for Lexy, but with Southwest having such a large presence here it makes another airline less likely to make Nashville a hub or put any sort of a medium to large size operation here. This holds us back from getting an American/Delta/US Air here to provide overseas flights.

[Lexy]

Not to speak for Lexy, but with Southwest having such a large presence here it makes another airline less likely to make Nashville a hub or put any sort of a medium to large size operation here. This holds us back from getting an American/Delta/US Air here to provide overseas flights.

Exactly!

Southwest "Dumbs Down" the market, so to speak, to the point that competition is eliminated among carriers.

[titanhog]

Exactly!

Southwest "Dumbs Down" the market, so to speak, to the point that competition is eliminated among carriers.

What would be the ideal situation for BNA as far as correcting the "Southwest" situation? I'm assuming we don't want to tick off SWA and actually have them pull any flights without having other carriers on board to fill the gap.

[Lexy]

What would be the ideal situation for BNA as far as correcting the "Southwest" situation? I'm assuming we don't want to tick off SWA and actually have them pull any flights without having other carriers on board to fill the gap.

Good question because it's like "Once you have Wal Mart, how do you get rid of them?". Once you have Southwest, how do you "get rid of them"? I honestly don't know, but the MNAA can start to court the legacies a bit harder and apply pressure to Southwest when need to either beef up the service and utilize all ten gates they lease like they should, or head out of town. Offer incentives for legacies to land and to offer service etc. The main thing is you can't connect on Southwest to ANYWHERE international and that's a shame. That makes Southwest here useless, unless you travel domesticaly.

Edited August 28, 2007 by Lexy

[Lexy]

Everyone needs to gander over to airliners.net and take a lok at this thread that yours truely started.

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/gener...d.main/3594416/

You'll enjoy this for sure. You have to pay to post on the forums, but it's a nominal fee and well worth it IMO.

[franktown]

Wow, tough crowd, Lexy! It's hard to get any sympathy from those guys!

[Lexy]

Wow, tough crowd, Lexy! It's hard to get any sympathy from those guys!

Yeah. Most on there from other cities have no clue what this markets potential really is. I love to see them "act" like they do.

I think it's really important to see and hear what is happening out on Terminal Drive. It's your tax money at work and you should be involved in every step of it being spent. There needs to be more accountability out there for those in charge of the airport!

[Lexy]

Delta's 757 service is back at Nashville again. This is typically a seasonal service, but is a fairly constant thing around here. Good to see the 757 back at BNA this fall! Today was the first day of the upgraded service and what better way to kick it off than with a ex-Song livery jet! Hey, atleast Delta keeps us guessing what livery will show up on the next flight. LOL!!

I have some pretty cool shots of ex-Song birds down at Atlanta that I got earlier this summer. You should check them out sometime! They wont be around much longer as they all have a date with the paint booth. http://www.pbase.com/lexyky/delta&page=3

Today's flight:

Edited September 8, 2007 by Lexy

[franktown]

In my opinion, it's too bad they got rid of Song. I always thought it was a neat concept and could have been a great competitior for them against Virgin America and JetBlue had they developed it more.

[Lexy]

In my opinion, it's too bad they got rid of Song. I always thought it was a neat concept and could have been a great competitior for them against Virgin America and JetBlue had they developed it more.

I agree. But it wasn't profitable for them at the time so that meant the ol' chopping block. Personally, I thought a Song flight to BNA would've been great for this airport, but Delta thought otherwise.

[Clark, you serious?]

Just a quick FYI. I took an AA Boeing 737-800 flight from Miami to BNA on Thursday and there were only about 40 people on the flight. I'm guessing that is not a good sign, but maybe it was just an off day / time of year. Speaking of Miami, it was my first time at the airport there and I was very impressed by all of the different carriers there. I saw tons of passenger airlines and cargo carriers that I had never seen before. They are also doing a ton of construction there.

[Wild Style]

Just a quick FYI. I took an AA Boeing 737-800 flight from Miami to BNA on Thursday and there were only about 40 people on the flight. I'm guessing that is not a good sign, but maybe it was just an off day / time of year. Speaking of Miami, it was my first time at the airport there and I was very impressed by all of the different carriers there. I saw tons of passenger airlines and cargo carriers that I had never seen before. They are also doing a ton of construction there.

I have flown to and from south florida four times. The first time the plane was 15 on board IF that. Back was packed and the last time to and from we were like sardines in that thing.

[Clark, you serious?]

I have flown to and from south florida four times. The first time the plane was 15 on board IF that. Back was packed and the last time to and from we were like sardines in that thing.

I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale on a SWA flight that was full. I presume my return flight would have been similar, but I changed to the AA flight home at the last minute. I guess I'm a little concerned about the AA flight, but it was at 11:45 in the morning on a Thursday...not exactly peak travel time.

[Lexy]

but it was at 11:45 in the morning on a Thursday...not exactly peak travel time.

If the yields are good it doesn't matter if the plane is full or not. Keep that in mind, LOL!

[Lexy]

Indianapolis Colts charter was a Northwest Boeing 757-200:

Personally, I loved seeing this bird here in town. Been a while since one has been here and finally getting it on the camera was a welcomed relief.

[Clark, you serious?]

FYI, Skybus Airlines has announced Chattanooga as one of their 4 new destinations. Service to/from Columbus begins in early December.

[Lexy]

FYI, Skybus Airlines has announced Chattanooga as one of their 4 new destinations. Service to/from Columbus begins in early December.

Yeah I saw this the other day. Should be real interesting to see if they can fill an A319 from CHA to Columbus, Ohio. Obviously they think a market for that type of flight is there so I say go for it. Personally, I don't see this lasting longer than a year or so. People certainly aren't going to fly to Columbus for the connection possibility up there.

I don't see this having any effect on the BNA-Columbus non-stops on Southwest at all.

[Lexy]

Time for some pictures since the last reply to this thread was a little while ago. LOL!!

From today....

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232, a reguarly scheduled flight I might add.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-332:

US Airways Airbus A319-112 in the old retro PSA Airlines livery:

FedEx Express MD-11:

Edited September 23, 2007 by Lexy

[Lexy]

For those that are interested in what happens at BNA I have some exciting news for you. The months of October and November are going to be knock down drag out months for aviation buffs in the middle Tennessee area. We have the A380 visit that both myself and nashcan are going to up in Covington, KY and then directly after that, a number of unique charter flights start arriving here in Nashville for various events including a Sun Country 737-800 from Minneapolis. Toward the end of the month is the US Armed Forces Airlift and Tanker Convention at Gaylord Opyrland. That will bring in some C-5's, KC-10's, KC-135's, possibly a B-52 (we haven't heard just yet), and much much more to Nashville International. It's going to be fun!!

Then in November, the unique charters continue to roll in with a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767-300 scheduled to arrive the day before the Oakland Raiders game against the Titans just to name one. This is going to be an exciting time here and I hope people get out to the airport obs. lot and partake in some really cool looking aircraft here in the next two months.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Lexy

[nashvillwill]

i'm sorry if this has already been covered, but when is the demo scheduled for the old control tower?

[Lexy]

i'm sorry if this has already been covered, but when is the demo scheduled for the old control tower?

It's already gone.

[nashvillwill]

It's already gone.

maybe i'm confused. i was there today, and the thing i am thinking of is still there.

i am talking about the very tall, tanish colored tower right by the donelson rd/tarmac crossover. it is by far the tallest building on the whole property. sorry i can't post a pic, but it's late, and i'm lazy. i honestly am the laymen on this subject, so please, enlighten me. if you know which building i am talking about, and this is NOT the old control tower(but has been there since my memory serves me) then what is it? is this the current control tower? what is in the highest point of the terminal which has alot of windows and looks like a short control tower?

i'm sorry for all of the stupid questions, but i guess you could say i am a "casual" airport fan, lacking full understanding of how things actually work. yet i am still interested.

thanks for your help.

-Will

edit: just for curiosity's sake, where was the old control tower?

Edited September 27, 2007 by nashvillwill