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Nashville International Airport Development thread


Lexy

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I'm still waiting for the 'Tennessee One' plane. How cool would that be?

I believe I've heard before that SW only paints a special scheme for states where they are the #1 air carrier (by # of passengers). While Southwest's presence at BNA is large, I believe that Northwest at Memphis is larger still.

And hi, I'm new here. :) I also post occasionaly at SSC under this same name, but I've been lurking here more and more, so I thought I'd go ahead and join here too.

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An Open Invitation To Join My Wife And I At The Airport Tomorrow!!

Gonna be at the airport tomorrow taking pics at the observation area. I plan on getting there early on, but will be around during the afternoon and evening. If you would like to come out and just enjoy the afternoon with some good conversation and even some of your own picture taking, then meet my wife and I out at the Observation Area off Vultee Blvd. I have a bright yellow Nissan Sentra SER, so I am not hard to miss or hard to find. I would love to meet anyone that I haven't already met form the forum.

PM me if you have anyother questions about it.

Michael Davis

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First of all...Fed Ex employs about 34,000 people. I'm sure there are quite a few others employed at MEM, but 166,000 still seems awful steep.

In defense to NB (a credible poster), the whole cargo industry at MEM employs 155, 872 people, to be exact.

Back to the topic :thumbsup: . I just wanted to clarify that.

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In defense to NB (a credible poster), the whole cargo industry at MEM employs 155, 872 people, to be exact.

Back to the topic :thumbsup: . I just wanted to clarify that.

The only way I'd believe the figure of nearly 156,000 employes by the Memphis cargo industry, is if it includes all the distribution centers and trucking operations, most of which don't have anything at all to do with air cargo.

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It says so here. The numbers are at the very bottom.

MEM International

Lexy, will ATA increase operations out of BNA?

The article states that about half the economic impact on jobs in Memphis is due to secondary distribution businesses (i.e. trucking companies). Therefore I think the Memphis Commercial Appeal's article is flawed. Many of trucking companies may carry air cargo, but most of the air cargo that's goes to Memphis does not wind up on trucks. The article states that 94% of Memphis's air cargo is handled by FedEx and that means that the vast majority winds up on other planes outbound from Memphis after going through their distribution process. I believe the newspaper article is giving the airport credit for attracting these trucking operations which haul primarily overland shipments. I'm sure the airport has played a major role in attracting distribution operations to Memphis, but Memphis was already a major center for distribution before FedEx became a big business. There is no doubt that the Memphis airport is the single largest employer and contributer to employment in the state by a wide margin, but I wouldn't attribute more than maybe 90,000 jobs to the airport.

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It says so here. The numbers are at the very bottom.

MEM International

Lexy, will ATA increase operations out of BNA?

Well technically they don't operate routes here. They codeshare with Southwest. See, if you buy a ticket to Hawaii on Southwest in Nashville, you fly to Phoenix on their 737 and then board an ATA 757 for the flight over the ocean. When an ATA jet shows up here, it is usually a charter flight for someone.

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The article states that about half the economic impact on jobs in Memphis is due to secondary distribution businesses (i.e. trucking companies). Therefore I think the Memphis Commercial Appeal's article is flawed. Many of trucking companies may carry air cargo, but most of the air cargo that's goes to Memphis does not wind up on trucks. The article states that 94% of Memphis's air cargo is handled by FedEx and that means that the vast majority winds up on other planes outbound from Memphis after going through their distribution process. I believe the newspaper article is giving the airport credit for attracting these trucking operations which haul primarily overland shipments. I'm sure the airport has played a major role in attracting distribution operations to Memphis, but Memphis was already a major center for distribution before FedEx became a big business. There is no doubt that the Memphis airport is the single largest employer and contributer to employment in the state by a wide margin, but I wouldn't attribute more than maybe 90,000 jobs to the airport.

Got it. I forgot about the packaging to the trucks that go on at the airport :unsure: .

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I just happened on to this forum out of curiousity and that I've done stories on News 2 and NashvillePost about some of the new renovations about to take place at the Nashville airport. You guys crack me up. You can chat about airliners as much as you can about urban development. A few things. One, I bet Memphis tourism and maybe business development would soar if Southwest got into the market. Two, is there any update on the Wright amendment? I'm a huge Texas Rangers fans and would love to be able to take a Southwest flight to see games. Three, I did some stories on FractionAir, a fractional ownership company that is in the toilet if anyone would like to see them. We posted them all free on our site. Bob Clement was on the board of this company. Al Gore was a fractional owner along with a bunch of other big wigs around Nashville. I'll post a link if anyone is interested.

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I just happened on to this forum out of curiousity and that I've done stories on News 2 and NashvillePost about some of the new renovations about to take place at the Nashville airport. You guys crack me up. You can chat about airliners as much as you can about urban development. A few things. One, I bet Memphis tourism and maybe business development would soar if Southwest got into the market. Two, is there any update on the Wright amendment? I'm a huge Texas Rangers fans and would love to be able to take a Southwest flight to see games. Three, I did some stories on FractionAir, a fractional ownership company that is in the toilet if anyone would like to see them. We posted them all free on our site. Bob Clement was on the board of this company. Al Gore was a fractional owner along with a bunch of other big wigs around Nashville. I'll post a link if anyone is interested.

A link would be awesome about Fraction Air. I have heard about them before in my "circle" of photographers and airport connections.

The Wright Amendment has been essentially canceled, but it's going to take almost 9 years for it to take full effect. So you'll have to wait a bit longer to reap the benefits. Plus, for every gate at DFW, that's one less gate at LUV Field. Southwest has to weigh their options very carefully on this.

Southwest has stated in the past that both them and Northwest cannot co-exsist in Memphis. If the NWA hub was to go, SWA would come in as a carrier. Otherwise they just have to rely on Airtran and a couple of other lowcost carriers.

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A link would be awesome about Fraction Air. I have heard about them before in my "circle" of photographers and airport connections.

The Wright Amendment has been essentially canceled, but it's going to take almost 9 years for it to take full effect. So you'll have to wait a bit longer to reap the benefits. Plus, for every gate at DFW, that's one less gate at LUV Field. Southwest has to weigh their options very carefully on this.

Southwest has stated in the past that both them and Northwest cannot co-exsist in Memphis. If the NWA hub was to go, SWA would come in as a carrier. Otherwise they just have to rely on Airtran and a couple of other lowcost carriers.

Thanks... here is the link to all the FractionAir stories.

http://www.nashvillepost.com/news?search_string=fractionair

I looked on the Houston Chronicle site and a story yesterday said the agreement to nix the Wright amendment has run into a snag with anti-trust issues. Amazing that the amendment has been able to hang around so long. So much for competition.

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I think the Birmingham Airport would be a better place for SWA to expand b/c their US Senators had the Wright Amendment's application to Alabama suspended. By comparison, TN's Senate "Majority Leader" can't even get the same thing done for his state. What a disgracefully ineffective dud Bill Frist is! And don't even get me started on Jim Cooper. These guys just take up space in DC and draw their checks.

On B'ham... it was the likely choice for Delta's relocation in the 1940s precisely b/c it was the center of the South.

On a positive note for BNA, it looks like they have finally shaken off the loss of American Airlines in the 1990s. More than 9.5 million passengers in FY 2006... and most of it is O&D.

This is impressive:

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stori...ml?surround=lfn

Edited by ATLBrain
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Impressive indeed. I love it. Now we should start to see some of the RJ's getting replaced by some of the larger aircraft. One company that is suppose to re-start mainline service again is Continental Airlines with a Boeing 737. That is suppose to start around the end of this year or next year.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update:

JetBlue starts service on August 31st, with Embraer 190's doing the routes between here and NYC. Also US Airways is adding a route to Las Vegas in October with their Airbus 319's doing the service between here and there. And FedEx starts service here within the month.

Plus, I got some interior shots of China Airlines' Boeing 747-409F today. I will post more if you like. But to give you the impression, here is the cockpit of the massive plane.

65074586.SDSFVDxg.achinaairlinescockpit1.jpg

If you want, I can post more.

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Thanks for posting a picture from inside the cockpit of a 747. It really is a massive plane. I've been fortunate enough to fly on a 747 because I worked overseas in Korea and Thailand for a while. Still, I never got to see the cockpit. so this is a real treat. If you have more pics, I'd love to see them.

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Here are the steps leading up to the living area and the cockpit.

65098296.8l8hSU53.achinaairlinesladderup.jpg

The Business Class seats that come standard on all CAL 747's. That is the Captain, who is American 100%, on the left talking with us about the living space.

65098577.S3hC18W9.achinaairlinesbusinessseats.jpg

The cargo hold packed FULL with Dell parts. It was freezing cold in here BTW. LOL!!

65098679.7tJwErUY.achinaairlinescargohold.jpg

I had a blast as did Casey. We sat and talked to both pilots and first officers for almost an hour. The two Captains were American, but the FO was Chinese. All three were top notch guys who welcomed us with open arms. We even got Chinese Coca-Cola products out of it, which is totally cool! I hope you enjoyed this brief tour. The highlight was a chance to set in the Pilots seat. That was the best part of the whole tour.

Michael

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Michael, talk about the living space more. Plasma TVs and Xbox360? Or a rudimentary bed and shower?

Just two beds, which remind you of a submarine bed, and one bathroom.....or as the crew calls it....a "blue room". LOL!!!! The bathroom is the same as one on a standard passenger airliner. These guys are on these planes for a little over 24-40 hours, so the need for a bath or shower isn't that great. Once they touch down at their hub in Taiwan, they are off for a period of time. China Airlines pilots only work about 45 hours a month, so go figure. LOL!!!

This plane didn't have a tv or gameing system in it, but that's not to say there isn't some that have some form of entertainment on them. Like I said above, they aren't typically on these planes long enough for them to have many forms of entertainment. For the most part, everyone pitches in on shifts and flight planning/oversight. I did notice an overabundance of newspapers and magazines in the business class seats, so reading isn't a problem on there. LOL!!

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Thanks for posting a picture from inside the cockpit of a 747. It really is a massive plane. I've been fortunate enough to fly on a 747 because I worked overseas in Korea and Thailand for a while. Still, I never got to see the cockpit. so this is a real treat. If you have more pics, I'd love to see them.

I've done that TransPacific flight in a 747 before. I took a 14 hour flight from Dallas to Seoul, Korea. It was definitely a long flight, but it was great in the 747. Hankster, where in Thailand did you go - just to Bangkok, or did you get to see any of the rest of the country. Phuket is really something to see. Some of the most beautiful beaches in the world!

Edited by thirdday2002
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