Nashville International Airport Development thread

[Hey_Hey]

Would they make this big of a deal out of a new-to-Nashville carrier announcing flights to SFO and a few other cities (I'm looking at Virgin America)?  

 

I tend to think it will be international, either Tokyo or London, however.

[NashRugger]

This'll probably be the biggest announcement since the new terminal and American hub breaking the news for Nashville. Once this happens, expect intense interest from other airlines current and potentially new to BNA to look at international flights. 

[Hey_Hey]

9 minutes ago, NashRugger said:

This'll probably be the biggest announcement since the new terminal and American hub breaking the news for Nashville. Once this happens, expect intense interest from other airlines current and potentially new to BNA to look at international flights. 

Are you saying you know what the announcement is?

[jmtunafish]

I'm hoping it'll be Virgin Atlantic to London.  Not only is Virgin Atlantic hip and cool, it's also partnered with Delta which is my airline of choice.  But even if it's not VA, any nonstop to Europe will be absolutely amazing news.

[Nathan_in_DC]

2 hours ago, Hey_Hey said:

Are you saying you know what the announcement is?

I think that can be deduced just from the weird publicity. No way it's not something international, and huge. The only things I can imagine that would even begin to warrant this would be either announcement of a major terminal addition, or a return of trans-oceanic air service, and they already said it was service related. In fact, that's the only thing we've had indicators of. Those indicators being announcements that BNA was actively seeking a London route, previous interest from BA and Virgin, and these recent announcements from Virgin about how focused they are on Nashville as a city right now.

[nashvillwill]

I would love for it to be REALLY big news. Like Virgin opening a mini-hub with service to London, SFO, NYC, and maybe another European destination.

[NashRugger]

I'd have a stroke of it was American revamping the hub.

[Nathan_in_DC]

7 hours ago, NashRugger said:

I'd have a stroke of it was American revamping the hub.

Ohhh I didn't think of that. That's a distinct possibility though.

[AUNash]

Do we have enough gate space available for that? I would have thought that, with the growth we have seen from SW, there isn't enough room left for another substantial hub operation.

[HopHead]

If I were a betting man, I'd bet it's new International service (guessing London based on what others said) not an American hub. The airline already has 9 or 10 hubs. Charlotte and Miami are the two in the Southeast. There's been talk of reducing the number of hubs, not increasing them. 

[MLBrumby]

Agreed... AA has too much capacity at this time. Combined with Philly, the airline now has four east coast hubs.  I've heard from an executive with a competing airline that they will ultimately consolidate them into Miami and NYC. 

[smeagolsfree]

Has to do with United .

[MLBrumby]

United to SFO with a connection to Japan. 

[SoundScan]

All this teasing for a non-stop (on United--perhaps the worst domestic airline) to SFO? Big letdown.

[MLBrumby]

I should have said that is my guess... nothing I know with certainty.  Just my gut, given the amount of hype over the years in favor of a connection to SF.  

[SoundScan]

Looks like it's official now per the BNA facebook page. United to SFO starting May 5th. Oh well.

[Hey_Hey]

Confirmed.  BNA-SFO daily beginning May 5.  Normally great news, but there is a definite letdown given the lead up.

[memphian]

Yeah this was pretty boring news. LOL

[UTgrad09]

I'm disappointed that it wasn't an international route, but as far as domestic routes go, this is a huge get.

[Will]

Weaksauce. Going forward, at least we know to ignore any hype emanating out of BNA. 

[smeagolsfree]

Could have at least been non stop to Hawaii

[BnaBreaker]

Geez...I would've been excited had they not built this up so much.  The addition of one domestic stop does not warrant so much suspense.  Great news nonetheless.  Now BNA just needs a flight to Portland, and it's more or less covered on the contiguous United States front. 

[Melrose]

20 minutes ago, Will said:

Weaksauce. Going forward, at least we know to ignore any hype emanating out of BNA. 

The hype for an international route, like London,  would have been much much bigger.  There would have been a huge media push, lots of officials at local, state and federal levels, at a big splashy event.  Just a simple Facebook post a few days in advance was really not that big a deal.....

[SoundScan]

From what I'm hearing the new SFO route arrives after most of the Asian route departures. If true, another bummer.

[jmtunafish]

1 hour ago, Melrose said:

The hype for an international route, like London,  would have been much much bigger.  There would have been a huge media push, lots of officials at local, state and federal levels, at a big splashy event.  Just a simple Facebook post a few days in advance was really not that big a deal.....

This is what I was thinking this morning while awaiting the "big news."  If it were something as big as an international non-stop, someone would've leaked it to the media before the 9:30 press conference, probably even the day before.  It would've been more than just a Facebook teaser.  Still, while I'm sorely disappointed that BNA didn't get a non-stop to London, I'm still glad to see our airport continue to grow and attract new service, particularly to SFO.  I honestly don't think it'll be long before we'll have a London flight.