Nashville International Airport Development thread

[Pdt2f]

Canadian landing fees and taxes are prohibitively high, especially for American low cost carriers. If WN is ever able to make it work it would be amazing though. More west coast service with added “feeder” flights to those mid-sized markets y’all mentioned would be awesome. 

What I would like to see is one of the domestic Mexican carriers (Aeromexico, Volaris, Interjet) add a daily flight to Mexico City or Guadalajara. Mexico City is going to be insanely slot restricted until their new airport opens but Guadalajara or Monterey would be a nice consolation prize. 

[Binbin98]

On 5/26/2018 at 7:28 PM, jmtunafish said:

Popular rumors are that Delta will have a nonstop from BNA to either AMS or CDG.  I think the money is on Amsterdam but I wouldn't rule out Paris (Delta is partnered with Air France which also owns KLM).  There's a lot of speculation that BNA could also land one or two European discount carriers like Condor to Frankfurt and/or WOW to Reykjavik.  Some even speculate that BNA could possibly get a nonstop to Tokyo although that one is probably farther down the road.  There's already seasonal service on 2 different airlines (Delta and Southwest) to Cancun, and Vacation Express has charters to Cancun, Cozumel, Freeport (Bahamas), Montego Bay (Jamaica), and Punta Cana (DR).  I'd love to see Southwest add some more destinations to Latin America from BNA.  With Nashville's burgeoning Hispanic community, it's probably just a matter of time.  I'd also looooove to have a nonstop to Montreal.

How real is this supposed rumor though, as I am on flyertalk and airliners.net and many other aviation forums, and have never heard anything about the prospect of Nashville having a flight to amsterdam or Paris in the future (and mind you before British Airways was announced there were whole rumor topics about the flight to London on each of those forums). This being said, I think between the two Amsterdam is more likely, as Philips has a major presence in Nashville now and Amsterdam is a financial hub and connector to the rest of mainland Europe. I don't see many french companies in Nashville except for maybe Schneider Electric and Alliance Bernstein (their parent company is French but they are slowly breaking away from AXA reportedly).

This being said, I believe Iceland is pretty much a given now either on WOW air or Icelandair (hopefully the latter), as well as more flights to the carribean on Southwest. Condor to Frankfurt is extremely likely as well, due to the huge and growing leisure aspect of Nashville and the ability to ferry German tourists to both Nashville and other destinations in the Southeast. I also strongly hope service to a city in Mexico or latin america (like Copa airlines in MSY for example) can happen in the future, as it would be more convenient for the half of my family that is Chilean lol. Tokyo I think is inevitable actually, but just farther away in the future (sometime in the 2020s), and also after markets like Philadelphia and Miami get service to Asia first.

Besides all of this I really hope the loads on British Airways are good and at least half full, from what I have been hearing they are pretty much full going to and from Nashville, which is a really good sign (I looked at the flights for tomorrow to Nashville and there are already only 5 seats left on the whole flight!). I suspect with BNA's passenger growth as well as the business and tourism growth in Nashville, British Airways will go daily next summer, if not upgauge service. Times are looking really good for Nashville International Airport, its hard to believe only 4 years ago we didn't have service to the Bay area or Seattle!

 

 

[Will]

Renault-Nissan has an HQ in Amsterdam with significant operations in Paris as well.

[jmtunafish]

6 hours ago, Binbin98 said:

I think between the two Amsterdam is more likely, as Philips has a major presence in Nashville now and Amsterdam is a financial hub and connector to the rest of mainland Europe. I don't see many french companies in Nashville except for maybe Schneider Electric and Alliance Bernstein (their parent company is French but they are slowly breaking away from AXA reportedly).

There's no "maybe"  about it.  Schneider Electric IS French.  Philips has 800 in its Nashville office, Schneider has 1100.  Nissan is also 43% French (Renault), and Nissan's chairman is French.  In fact, the Nissan-Renault alliance is the world's 3rd largest automotive group with 10% of the world's market share and has its North American HQ in Franklin.  There are 76 French corporations with a presence in Tennessee employing over 9,000.  Paris is not only a much larger financial and business center than Amsterdam but it's also a bajillion times more popular with tourists than Amsterdam, and it's not even close.  And thanks to Brexit, gobs of Euro financial businesses are leaving London for Paris.

I know it's very fashionable for Americans to sneer and make fun of the French, but the fact is France is still a powerful and influential country with the world's 7th largest economy and is the world's 6th largest exporter of all goods and 4th largest exporter of military goods.  If Delta does start a nonstop to Europe, it could very well be to AMS, who knows, but don't let uninformed and uneducated American biases cloud judgment on the vitality and importance of Paris.

[PruneTracy]

3 minutes ago, jmtunafish said:

I know it's very fashionable for Americans to sneer and make fun of the French

[AUNash]

So I’ve heard several times that a flight to Iceland is imminent. I’m curious ... why is that? I’ve never been to Iceland and don’t understand why a flight there is significant. Is it a hot destination? Is it a sought after connecting point?

[Pdt2f]

11 minutes ago, AUNash said:

So I’ve heard several times that a flight to Iceland is imminent. I’m curious ... why is that? I’ve never been to Iceland and don’t understand why a flight there is significant. Is it a hot destination? Is it a sought after connecting point?

Just a good connecting point for Europe. Icelandic carriers are pretty low cost and they found a nice niche carrying budget tourists between North America and Europe. You can probably find some fun stuff to do in Iceland though, and from what I understand the entire country basically speaks English. 

4 hours ago, jmtunafish said:

There's no "maybe"  about it.  Schneider Electric IS French.  Philips has 800 in its Nashville office, Schneider has 1100.  Nissan is also 43% French (Renault), and Nissan's chairman is French.  In fact, the Nissan-Renault alliance is the world's 3rd largest automotive group with 10% of the world's market share and has its North American HQ in Franklin.  There are 76 French corporations with a presence in Tennessee employing over 9,000.  Paris is not only a much larger financial and business center than Amsterdam but it's also a bajillion times more popular with tourists than Amsterdam, and it's not even close.  And thanks to Brexit, gobs of Euro financial businesses are leaving London for Paris.

I know it's very fashionable for Americans to sneer and make fun of the French, but the fact is France is still a powerful and influential country with the world's 7th largest economy and is the world's 6th largest exporter of all goods and 4th largest exporter of military goods.  If Delta does start a nonstop to Europe, it could very well be to AMS, who knows, but don't let uninformed and uneducated American biases cloud judgment on the vitality and importance of Paris.

CDG would be a much better destination for Nashville than AMS, my entire thought with preferring AMS is that KLM is just a much more reliable airline than AF, which is a labor basket case. Delta and their codeshare partners would presumably add a flight like this knowing that a big portion of the pax would be connecting to elsewhere in Europe, Asia, and Africa (just like BA understood this), and unless I was traveling to Paris itself I would feel much better connecting through the airport whose prime tenant doesn’t have to cancel 50% of their flights several days per month because of random and unending strike action (especially with the unions not being huge Macron fans and ready to protest him at the drop of a hat). 

I love how much French companies have invested in Tennessee, though, and I’d much rather visit France than the Netherlands (although I’d love to visit both).

Edited May 29, 2018 by Pdt2f

[BnaBreaker]

Iceland is inexpensive to get to, and an awesome place to visit at least once in your life.  But yeah, like @Pdt2f said, it is mostly used by American travelers as an affordable jumping off point for the rest of Europe since it is a couple hours flying time closer to us.

[jmtunafish]

 

1 hour ago, Pdt2f said:

Just a good connecting point for Europe. Icelandic carriers are pretty low cost and they found a nice niche carrying budget tourists between North America and Europe. You can probably find some fun stuff to do in Iceland though, and from what I understand the entire country basically speaks English. 

CDG would be a much better destination for Nashville than AMS, my entire thought with preferring AMS is that KLM is just a much more reliable airline than AF, which is a labor basket case. Delta and their codeshare partners would presumably add a flight like this knowing that a big portion of the pax would be connecting to elsewhere in Europe, Asia, and Africa (just like BA understood this), and unless I was traveling to Paris itself I would feel much better connecting through the airport whose prime tenant doesn’t have to cancel 50% of their flights several days per month because of random and unending strike action (especially with the unions not being huge Macron fans and ready to protest him at the drop of a hat). 

I love how much French companies have invested in Tennessee, though, and I’d much rather visit France than the Netherlands (although I’d love to visit both).

Yes, the strikes can be maddening.  And it's not always Air France workers who go on strike.  I was there once when CDG air traffic controllers went on strike.  It was frustrating, but hey I got to stay in Paris for an extra day.  French mentality is changing, though, and strikers are finding less enthusiasm from their compatriots for their causes.

 

1 hour ago, BnaBreaker said:

Iceland is inexpensive to get to, and an awesome place to visit at least once in your life.  But yeah, like @Pdt2f said, it is mostly used by American travelers as an affordable jumping off point for the rest of Europe since it is a couple hours flying time closer to us.

In the old days, Icelandair had its hub in Luxembourg which for many Americans was an odd choice for an airline hub.  (Luxembourg is actually beautifully located right smack in the middle of western Europe, but that's another topic for another time.)  Now Icelandair uses Reykjavik's strategic location between North America and Europe which is actually a brilliant move.  It can use cheaper aircraft because the flights are shorter.  And I believe the Iceland government subsidizes the airline to encourage travelers to visit their fun little country.  I haven't checked in a while, but they used t offer ridiculously cheap rates for overnight layovers (hotel included) to get people to experience quirky and lovely Reykjavik.  I know other national airlines have done that (Korean Air-Seoul, Turkish Airlines-Istanbul).  If Icelandair or WOW (Iceland's other airline) came to BNA, I would gladly take it to Europe and pay for an optional overnight layover in Reykjavik.

[dxfret]

Iceland on its own has become a huge and important tourist destination, especially over the past 10 years.  Hence there are now  two Icelandic Air carriers (Icelandair and WOW Air).  Reykjavik is also  well served by numerous US and European carriers. It is definitely not always cheap to fly there, especially in summer when there is almost always sunlight. Iceland itself is no longer as important as transfer point for ultra cheap flights to Europe because there are so many nonstop flights to Europe from numerous US cities.  If BNA gets service to Reykjavik I hope it will be on Icelandair. 

[Pdt2f]

2 hours ago, jmtunafish said:

 

Yes, the strikes can be maddening.  And it's not always Air France workers who go on strike.  I was there once when CDG air traffic controllers went on strike.  It was frustrating, but hey I got to stay in Paris for an extra day.  French mentality is changing, though, and strikers are finding less enthusiasm from their compatriots for their causes.

 

In the old days, Icelandair had its hub in Luxembourg which for many Americans was an odd choice for an airline hub.  (Luxembourg is actually beautifully located right smack in the middle of western Europe, but that's another topic for another time.)  Now Icelandair uses Reykjavik's strategic location between North America and Europe which is actually a brilliant move.  It can use cheaper aircraft because the flights are shorter.  And I believe the Iceland government subsidizes the airline to encourage travelers to visit their fun little country.  I haven't checked in a while, but they used t offer ridiculously cheap rates for overnight layovers (hotel included) to get people to experience quirky and lovely Reykjavik.  I know other national airlines have done that (Korean Air-Seoul, Turkish Airlines-Istanbul).  If Icelandair or WOW (Iceland's other airline) came to BNA, I would gladly take it to Europe and pay for an optional overnight layover in Reykjavik.

Yeah the CDG people definitely have their labor moments too. Our aviation industry’s labor issues were faaaaaaar worse from the ‘70s-‘90s than AF is now. Eastern Airlines basically committed suicide with strikes, and every other major airline at the time either had major strikes or had to give crazy, unsustainable concessions to avoid them. It’s much more stable now, which probably just makes AF look worse than it is. But in an era of consolidation and historical competence among airlines, and with plenty of competition for connecting passengers among European airlines, AF kind of needs to get it’s act together. 

[jmtunafish]

5 hours ago, Pdt2f said:

Yeah the CDG people definitely have their labor moments too. Our aviation industry’s labor issues were faaaaaaar worse from the ‘70s-‘90s than AF is now. Eastern Airlines basically committed suicide with strikes, and every other major airline at the time either had major strikes or had to give crazy, unsustainable concessions to avoid them. It’s much more stable now, which probably just makes AF look worse than it is. But in an era of consolidation and historical competence among airlines, and with plenty of competition for connecting passengers among European airlines, AF kind of needs to get it’s act together. 

My dad was an engineer for Eastern Air Lines and was hired by Eddie Rickenbacker personally.  It's so sad what happened to Eastern.  But anyway, agreed about Air France and its finicky labor unions.  What's odd is that a higher percentage of Americans (11%) belong to labor unions than do the French (8%), but for some reason French labor unions still have a lot of clout.  That clout is eroding, though.  But back to the topic, I'll be giddy if BNA gets a nonstop to AMS even though I'd rather have one to CDG.

Edited May 30, 2018 by jmtunafish

[Binbin98]

On 5/29/2018 at 9:08 PM, jmtunafish said:

There's no "maybe"  about it.  Schneider Electric IS French.  Philips has 800 in its Nashville office, Schneider has 1100.  Nissan is also 43% French (Renault), and Nissan's chairman is French.  In fact, the Nissan-Renault alliance is the world's 3rd largest automotive group with 10% of the world's market share and has its North American HQ in Franklin.  There are 76 French corporations with a presence in Tennessee employing over 9,000.  Paris is not only a much larger financial and business center than Amsterdam but it's also a bajillion times more popular with tourists than Amsterdam, and it's not even close.  And thanks to Brexit, gobs of Euro financial businesses are leaving London for Paris.

I know it's very fashionable for Americans to sneer and make fun of the French, but the fact is France is still a powerful and influential country with the world's 7th largest economy and is the world's 6th largest exporter of all goods and 4th largest exporter of military goods.  If Delta does start a nonstop to Europe, it could very well be to AMS, who knows, but don't let uninformed and uneducated American biases cloud judgment on the vitality and importance of Paris.

Maybe. It is because I am slowly gaining a virtual attitude towards the French as I continue to live here in London lol.

But in all seriousness I have good news. I have mentioned before one of my dad’s best friends is a pilot for American Airlines and part of the oneworld alliance (which includes BA). Apparently my dad told me she mentioned that the initial loads for the flight to Nashville are “chockers” which in pilot slang means almost entirely full. She said this most likely is a great sign for the Nashville service’s success and she also estimated that next summer British airways will most likely go daily. However winter service loads may still be lower. Anyways thought I would share.

[jmtunafish]

Headed to Paris and Nice for business and saw this in Delta's in-flight magazine. 

[markhollin]

A few new renderings released for the airport expansion.

For the expansion of the apron near the terminal, there will be 55,000 dump truck loads of material deposited into a 50 foot depression that is leftover from when the airport was hilly terrain.  

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21008285/new-images-released-for-airport-project

[e-dub]

That Herman Miller airport seating is SO COMFORTABLE. I love those chairs, lol.

[Pdt2f]

3 hours ago, markhollin said:

A few new renderings released for the airport expansion.

For the expansion of the apron near the terminal, there will be 55,000 dump truck loads of material deposited into a 50 foot depression that is leftover from when the airport was hilly terrain.  

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21008285/new-images-released-for-airport-project

 

 

Definitely not spacious enough to be widebody-able but it should do fine for what we need it for. Hopefully it’ll turn out as pretty as the renderings. 

[Bos2Nash]

The day will be great when we get double decker gates for these bad boys hahaha

[PruneTracy]

38 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

The day will be great when we get double decker gates for these bad boys hahaha

Well...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2018/06/06/first-airbus-a380-jumbos-head-for-scrap-heap/

[Pdt2f]

3 minutes ago, PruneTracy said:

Well...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2018/06/06/first-airbus-a380-jumbos-head-for-scrap-heap/

Yeah Airbus made a huge (and admirable) bet that the future of air travel would be more hub-and-spoke and they seem to have lost, other than satisfying Emirates’ desperate need to be respected. That being said, if I remember correctly the early model a380s had a lot of issues that were eventually corrected, so it may just be that the market doesn’t want those particular airframes. I love VLA’s though so hopefully the market starts behaving irrationally and a ton of these and 748’s are eventually sold 

[Binbin98]

I think the most that Nashville is getting in terms of BA is a 787-9 until the new IAB is built.

That being said I would actually bet on Nashville's London flight going daily next summer and staying at 5 times a week in winter. Dummy Bookings reveal that its almost impossible to book a flight the next day after you book to Nashville because it is so filled up, in economy class! This is not even the case for Indianapolis's new flight to Paris that started recently, so I would say Nashville won't be losing their European flight anytime soon.

Sorry I'm an commercial aviation nerd lol

[Pdt2f]

2 hours ago, Binbin98 said:

Sorry I'm an commercial aviation nerd lol

Same here haha. I dragged my wife to the airport observation area on Christmas a few years ago to watch a chartered UA 744 land (Nebraska cornhuskers arriving for the MCB). She’s never let me hear the end of it  

 Funny enough it’s actually what originally brought me to this site, my desire to have more news about BNA. My interest in urban development sprung from my already existent commercial aviation obsession. 

[Rockatansky]

Aside: while I wouldn't call in an obsession, I'm definitely nerd-adjacent when it comes to military (fixed-wing) aviation. Just one of those life long interests. Granted, being a kid during the Reagan military build up in the 80's and a teen during the Gulf War certainly helped fuel this interest.

My current fascination is with who will be the next country/consortium to develop a 5th Gen fighter. I know Japan, South Korea, the Euros are looking into it. F15s are getting a bit long in tooth, and the U.S. was prohibited from selling the F22 overseas, so several nations are in need of a air superiority 5th Gen with great kinematic performance.

[Nathan_in_DC]

On 4/20/2018 at 2:27 PM, Pdt2f said:

 

(dang it, go away quote box) 

My money is on a WOW or Norwegian flight to Reykjavik. That makes the most sense, what with the huge tourist demand. Maybe mainline Air Canada service to somewhere other than Toronto, even? A Vancouver flight would be clutch. 

On 6/8/2018 at 6:47 PM, Bos2Nash said:

The day will be great when we get double decker gates for these bad boys hahaha

When our BA 747 flight into Heathrow from Dulles landed last week, we pulled up next to one of those bad boys. They are impressive, that's for sure. Anything that makes a 747 look small is. But the 747 is leaps and bounds a better looking airplane than that squinty eyed whale with wings and a huge forehead. 

[Binbin98]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-5816975/Kay-Burley-discovers-soothing-qualities-British-Airways-Dreamliner-business-class-cabin.html

This is a good UK article about the recent BA flight, which is frequently heralded as the only European airline flying to Nashville (something tells me not for long though)

Also rammed = packed/crowded