Nashville Bits and Pieces

[dxfret 565]

BNA is an excellent, well-run airport facility that is poised for steady continued future growth.  It draws passengers both from the strong economic growth in Metro Nashville as well as in the large catchment area of Middle TN, Southern KY and North  Alabama.

 

Southwest Airlines has made Nashville a focus city and continues to dominate BNA with 54% of all passenger traffic.  There is excellent competition among numerous airlines on many key routes which help to moderate air fares.  The are 5 daily nonstops between LAX and BNA with 3 airlines (American, Delta and Southwest) all competing on the route.

 

The return of a daily nonstop flight to the SF Bay Area (Oakland) on Southwest is very positive news for the local tech community.  I suspect that United may eventually launch a nonstop flight to SFO to give local companies like Nissan and Bridgestone more direct connections from their SFO hub to Asian destinations.  We may soon see a nonstop flight to London Heathrow on British Airways as international tourism increases.  Highly doubtful about a nonstop flight Mexico City. 

[NashRugger 1487]

Now, if only the airport authority would be bold and ballsy and go after Qantas, then I can return home to Australia more frequently. A man can dream though, right?

[rookzie 2792]

Now, if only the airport authority would be bold and ballsy and go after Qantas, then I can return home to Australia more frequently. A man can dream though, right?

No, that's not dreamin' -- that 's being pragmatic; the idea of Quantas might very well lend itself to some not-too-distant market-stream projections.

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[Nathan_in_the_UK 1706]

Truly significant numbers increase and we'll be on track to crack 12 million in another 1-3 years. Airlines want to make money and Nashville would be a very safe investment as the city and region continues to boom and become a dominant force in the southern US. People want to be here, whether to live or visit, and we're likely to see announcements with more flights to new cities and perhaps even a new airline or two. 

 

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Aeromexico's seasonal to Cancun become year-round and maybe adding Mexico City to the lineup. American may very well ramp up their operations here as they have the gates, just in idle. As for int'l carriers, I'd say British Airways is just a "when", not an "if." I hope Virgin America's expansion plan comes to fruition and who knows, maybe one day JetBlue could very well return to us.

 

I would LOVE to see JetBlue return to Nashville. SouthWest needs some competition, their fares are starting to balloon a little bit it seems, and the previous cheap fares you could get from US Airways may go away in the very near future with their merger.

[Nathan_in_the_UK 1706]

No, that's not dreamin' -- that 's being pragmatic; the idea of Quantas might very well lend itself to some not-too-distant market-stream projections.

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I'm not so sure how soon we'll see transoceanic flights from more than one airline. Multiple daily flights from multiple airlines are going to require more widebody airliner capable parking spots, customs expansion, and other support facilities.

 

One of the problems with the new terminal was that they didn't allow a lot of room for expansion.  You could possibly rebuild Concourse A to have a few more gates by adding a pier to it, and you could *possibly* extend out the old Concourse D. Other than that, large amounts of landfill are going to have to be used to fill in the large ravines between the terminal and 31/13 to allow B to be extended or another pier added to C.

[NashRugger 1487]

Airlines I'd like to see return and/or enter the market are JetBlue, Virgin America, & British Airways. I'd really like to see United upgrade us from regional United Express jets to regular service that are longer haul. American I'm almost certain is looking to ramp up operations at BNA as well.

[titanhog 15662]

Now, if only the airport authority would be bold and ballsy and go after Qantas, then I can return home to Australia more frequently. A man can dream though, right?

Would Qantas give us a chance of a non-stop to Tokyo?  I know that's not in the exact same direction as Australia...but not TOO far off.

[NashRugger 1487]

Not a chance, the longest haul they do right now is a nonstop between Sydney and DFW, the world's longest nonstop at that. 

[Bezoar 639]

Would Qantas give us a chance of a non-stop to Tokyo?  I know that's not in the exact same direction as Australia...but not TOO far off.

 

It's only 5,000 miles from Tokyo to Sydney.  

[titanhog 15662]

It's only 5,000 miles from Tokyo to Sydney.  

Piece of cake. 

 

Actually...I was just thinking that Qantas probably has plenty of non-stops to Tokyo from Australia.  Why not give us a non-stop BNA to Australia AND non-stop BNA to Tokyo then to Australia.  I don't think that's asking for too much. 

[dxfret 565]

Even with continued steady growth, the Nashville airport terminal is entirely adequate for the near term future.  Now that American and US Airways have consolidated gates on Concourse C, there is plenty of room for other airlines on Concourses A & B, including international/customs/immigration.  Compared to the very busy Concourse C (Southwest, American/US Airways), Delta and United have the other concourses pretty much to themselves.

 

It's extremely unlikely that any airline would offer nonstop service from BNA to Tokyo because there is just not enough first/business class demand even with large companies like Bridgestone and Nissan headquartered here.  Airlines make the majority of profits from premium cabin passengers, not from economy class.  With numerous daily nonstops to Los Angeles, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Chicago and Atlanta easy connections are available to Asia/Pacific, including to Australia nonstop from LAX and DFW.

 

Jet Blue served Nashville for almost two years back around 2005-2006, but only flew to New York's JFK Airport.  Jet Blue dropped BNA because of multi carrier competition to NYC and because their aircraft were needed for other new routes such as the Caribbean.  Jet Blue has a generally weak presence in mid-America and it's unlikely they will resume service here soon.  BNA still sees a fair number of Jet Blue aircraft being shuttled to/from the Embraer maintenance facilities at BNA. 

[NashRugger 1487]

Exactly, we've got more than enough space in concourses A & B, plus A is the one concourse that could be tweaked a bit and have the room for larger planes and concourse D will almost 100% certainly never be back for passenger service unless BNA finds space to relocate the TSA offices and the USO.

[titanhog 15662]

I have an apartment question.

 

Do you guys feel we're on the verge of building too many "upper scale" apartments (with rents over $1000)...and maybe not enough under $1000 rentals?  I'm hearing there is a ton of demand for cheaper rent...but not much out there.  Is it that way on the upper end as well?

Edited January 16, 2015 by titanhog

[volsfanwill 1563]

I 100% agree, how about some more basic appartment building with out gyms and all that

[MetroTN 120]

I often wondered do developers build "cheaper" apartments. I always figured they didnt and that the older complexes would become cheaper as a result of nicer, newer complexes.

[samsonh 1124]

I often wondered do developers build "cheaper" apartments. I always figured they didnt and that the older complexes would become cheaper as a result of nicer, newer complexes.

 

This is pretty much what happens. You look at some of the cheaper older places, they were designed to be cheap. They just became that way with wear and tear and outdated looks.

[titanhog 15662]

I would imagine there are some major price differences, though, between something like SoBro and something like Elliston 23, right?  I bet someone could still build some decent apartments without the bells and whistles and cater to the under $1000 crowd (at least for 1 bedrooms)...and still make a good profit and keep the place continually packed without too much overhead.

 

Maybe I'm wrong and that shipped has sailed, though.

[12Mouth 529]

I'm certainly no expert, but I think rents have just gone up everywhere. We have a 2 bedroom we rent out in an older building for $1500 that we'll likely raise to $1700 when the lease is up based on comps. I can't imagine it would make sense for a new build to rent for less than $2K for a similar unit, so it probably just makes economic sense to throw in a few extra amenities to get everything rented quickly.

[MLBrumby 9337]

Yes... the downside of living in a booming city.

[TnNative 87]

Can we ban front loading garages entirely?

 

 

 

http://www.wsmv.com/story/27873917/clarksville-police-seek-help-to-end-string-of-burglaries

Edited January 17, 2015 by TnNative

[BnaBreaker 9390]

 

Can we ban front loading garages entirely?

 

 

 

 

http://www.wsmv.com/story/27873917/clarksville-police-seek-help-to-end-string-of-burglaries

 

 

Agreed.  They don't exactly make for an inviting neighborhood.  You look at a home like that from the front and it's mostly garage door in your view.  It says, "this building belongs to a car."  I've heard urban design folk say before that if an alien race came to earth and landed somewhere in the US, chances are they would assume that the car is the dominant species on this planet.  haha

[Neigeville2 1555]

 

Can we ban front loading garages entirely?

 

 

 

 

http://www.wsmv.com/story/27873917/clarksville-police-seek-help-to-end-string-of-burglaries

 

 

They're ugly, but this view is at least as marred by the total lack of trees and landscaping, except for a couple of shrubs the developer probably tucked in because they were the cheapest thing on the market.  And it looks like every other house has a sidewalk?  A wide, shady,continuous sidewalk and some decent foundation planting would work wonders for this scene.

[CenterHill 4334]

Agreed.  They don't exactly make for an inviting neighborhood.  You look at a home like that from the front and it's mostly garage door in your view.  It says, "this building belongs to a car."  I've heard urban design folk say before that if an alien race came to earth and landed somewhere in the US, chances are they would assume that the car is the dominant species on this planet.  haha

 

Garage with attached house.     It reminds me of Edward Scissorhands' neighborhood.    

 

[NashvilleTaylor 80]

I dont see anything wrong with them. Whats the alternative? Just a driveway? Rear garages? I think garages in the rear kind of kill the backyard. Idk just being devils advocate

[BnaBreaker 9390]

I dont see anything wrong with them. Whats the alternative? Just a driveway? Rear garages? I think garages in the rear kind of kill the backyard. Idk just being devils advocate

 

Literally everything that's not that?  I mean only a tiny minority of residential structures in the world have front facing garages.  Sorry, I'm not saying that to be smarmy, it just seems like an odd question.