Nashville International Airport Development thread

GreenHillsBoy · June 20, 2016

On 6/16/2016 at 9:46 PM, Nathan_in_DC said:

Really, really glad I wasn't in the airport Monday...

A little late with this, but friends from Dallas flew out that Monday on Southwest and had no issues at all. They had all lines open and they went through security in less than 15 minutes. They were surprised but pleased as they had encountered very long lines in Dallas Love Field coming to Nashville.

markhollin · June 21, 2016

Frontier to start non-stop flights to/from Las Vegas:

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/tourism/article/20783002/bna-to-offer-nonstop-flight-to-vegas-via-frontier

UTgrad09 · June 21, 2016

10 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Frontier to start non-stop flights to/from Las Vegas:

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/tourism/article/20783002/bna-to-offer-nonstop-flight-to-vegas-via-frontier

About time! Southwest needs some competition there....

markhollin · June 23, 2016

May was busiest month in history of BNA with 1.6 million passengers:

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2016/06/23/may-marks-busiest-month-ever-for-nashville.html

markhollin · July 14, 2016

For third straight year, the airport sets another annual record for passengers with 12,293,924 in the just-completed fiscal year. That is 9.8% higher than last year's record.

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2016/07/14/how-hot-is-nashville-bna-just-shattered-its-record.html

markhollin · July 22, 2016

A 40% drop in average airfare coming in and out of Nashville (from June of '15 to last month) is only going to increase tourism into the city. : )

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2016/07/22/nashville-international-airport-flights.html

21jump · July 26, 2016

Excuse my ignorance, but am I reading this correctly?

With heavy airline traffic in the summer months, June, the final month of the airport’s fiscal year, could take annual enplanements, or total boarded passengers, over the 2 million mark for the first time since 2012

MEM is on pace to do a half million more passengers this month than BNA's busiest month ever? I've got to be missing something.

smeagolsfree · July 26, 2016

I think that may be yearly numbers.

Hey_Hey · July 26, 2016

I think what it is saying is that the total number of people that originate from MEM will total 2 million for the entire year. That will evidently break the record previously set when Northwest/Delta had a hub there. During the hub days, total passenger numbers were more in line with what Nashville is now, but the number of originating passengers from Memphis was much smaller. I don't think the total enplanement a number counts people flying into MEM from city A and transferring to a flight bound for city B.

UTgrad09 · July 26, 2016

It's an odd line. 2012 had 6.7 million total passengers at MEM (3.3 million enplanements). To say that 2 million enplanements would "rival" the Delta days is...well...odd.

FYI, in 2005, MEM had 11 million total passengers and 5.3 million enplanements.

21jump · July 26, 2016

Thanks for the clarification guys.

VSRJ · July 28, 2016

Speaking of MEM, has there been any talk of a modernization-type project for BNA? I was at the airport last week for the first time and was a bit surprised at how dated the overall facility looked. MEM should be quite nice when all is said and done: http://www.uarch.com/memphis-international-airport-improvements/

I would think that with the BNA's growing traffic, a similar project may be in the works.

MidTenn1 · July 31, 2016

From the Tennessean; I got this off my subscription site and didn't see it posted on the public web site, so I don't have a link...

Quotes:

Nashville International Airport is embarking on an ambitious $1.2 billion renovation that will touch virtually every corner of the airport and change every aspect of the traveler’s experience.

New parking, more security lines, larger baggage claim and ticketing areas, expanded concourse space and a first-of-its-kind hotel are among the projects planned over the next five to seven years.

The renovation and expansion, dubbed by the Metro Nashville Airport Authority as “BNA Vision,” will rank among the most expensive in the city’s history.

Quote:

The airport also will add ticketing counters and additional baggage claims in addition to expanding concourse D, which will bring more gates and give the potential to add more airlines.

A spacious central entrance hall will be built, called the Grand Ole Lobby, which will include additional federal security screening lanes. At its busiest, Nashville, like other airports, has seen dreadfully long security lines, notably in March when the passenger queue stretched outside the building.

In a nod to the business and tourism industries’ desire for direct international flights to and from Nashville, the vision also calls for a new international arrivals building. Nashville leaders have been in hot pursuit of direct flights to London and Tokyo, in particular, and frustration mounted last year as those efforts seemed to reach a standstill.

Quote:

Airport leaders acknowledged the renovation would have to change the traveler’s experience. The goal is to minimize that by stretching the projects out over approximately seven years.

The projects are funded through the airport’s existing revenue streams, which come from bond sales, federal and state aviation grants, parking and concessions revenue and rental fees paid through the airline agreements. The Airport Authority has an annual budget of about $119 million.

In a demonstration of the airport’s sound financial health, Wigington pointed out that the authority’s bond rating is strong. Last year, the Airport Authority issued $200 million in bonds to fund the first wave of projects. Wigington said the bond market was eager to buy even more bonds and he expects a positive reception when more debt is issued in the coming months.

Plans also call for rerouting a portion of Donelson Pike by shifting the road slightly to the east to provide better ease of access and traffic circulation.

Edited July 31, 2016 by PHofKS

markhollin · July 31, 2016

Thanks for posting PHofKS! Here's the link to the digital page, which includes a 4 1/2 minute video. I've included some screen grabs from that vid further below on this post:

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/davidson /2016/07/31/nashville-airport-plans-12b-overhaul-including-new-hotel/87478166/

Here's the link to the print page:

http://nashvilletennessean.tn.newsmemory.com/?token=ffc9a0dcf6e6b282e954db6388799c9e&cnum=4652712&fod=1111111STD&selDate=20160731&licenseType=none&

BNA Vision is an acceleration and expansion of the MNAA Master Plan, a comprehensive strategy lasted updated in 2013 that provides planning and development guidance to address landside and airside facilities and land development considerations.

PROJECTS:

Parking Garage

Six-story structure to the south of the existing Short Term Garage
2,000 spaces
Estimated completion: Fall 2018

International Arrivals Building

State-of-the-art expansion to accommodate the increase of international travelers and set the stage for attracting new nonstop flights to Europe, Asia, Latin America and more
Estimated completion: 2018

Ticketing and Baggage Claim Expansions

Additional ticketing counters at the North and South ends of the terminal building
Additional baggage claim devices to accommodate additional passenger traffic

Concourse D Expansion

Additional gates to increase capacity to attract new airlines and services
New retail and dining offerings

Concourse B Expansion

Increase the footprint for additional gate capacity, retail and dining options and amenities

Grand Ole Lobby

Spacious central entrance hall will warmly welcome travelers with natural light and compelling airfield views
Comfortably accommodate airline ticketing, baggage check-in, and federal security screening
Queueing for security screening will be consolidated, and additional lanes will minimize wait times and expedite the process

Multi-Modal Transit

Potential for a multi-modal connector to link BNA to future Nashville transit system

On-site Hotel
A 200-300-room hotel to provide travelers easy and convenient lodging

Donelson Pike Relocation
A shift in the road slightly to the east to improve traffic circulation and terminal access