Nashville airport news (Cleveland, Paris, Portland: tenants, restaurant, shop)

[shinestx]

Originally Posted by shinestx

And it's very possible that BNA will hit 16 million passengers for 2018. FY 2018 should be no problem as that could be closer to 17 million. Still very much in growth mode. Don't be surprised if another international destination is added by summer. About a half dozen are targeted, but Tokyo is a dark horse favorite.

So close! BNA fell just 3800 passengers shy of 16 million in 2018. Oh well, onward! And upward! Looks like it will hit 17 million in FY 2020, three years ahead of projections. And there's already talk of adding a new terminal.

[DonCorleone]

Water cooler talk the other day at work that I thought I'd share with my fellow C-D development nerds: someone suggested that Nashville is going to "have to build" a new runway at some point to keep up with all of the growth. His idea was that they'll have to expand their footprint at some point and either build on existing property owned by the Airport Authority or buy up neighboring areas to expand. "It's just growing too fast and they're going to need a new runway".

My knee-jerk reaction was "no way". We have 4 runways now. I've been through several airports with significantly higher passenger #s than ours who have 4 runways. We even have one runway now that can accommodate the 747 and/or A380, though no crosswind runway of the same distance exists. New terminals, new parking, new buildings...certainly. New runway...I'd be shocked if one is ever needed unless there's a massive (and unforeseen) trend change in needing to accommodate mega-wide body jets.

Anyways, thought I'd share an interesting conversation and friendly debate I had recently.

[Hey_Hey]

I doubt they need an additional runway, but I could see them needing to extend one of the three 2/20 runways to give the big boys a place to take off/land in the event of a crosswind for 13/31. Currently, the BA 787-800 has to use the longer 13/31 to take off, but it is able to land on one of the 2/20 runways. However, I’m sure that whenever it uses the 13/31 runway all the traffic into and out of BNA has to stop because it cross all the other runways.

[DonCorleone]

Thanks for the insight on which runways the BA route uses...I didn't realize they used 13/31.

I agree that is the most likely scenario of runway expansion...extending an existing runway. I'm guessing that could be done relatively cheaply (certainly cheaper than building an entirely new runway).

I also think that could be more of a pressing concern if and when we ever get the long-desired direct-to-Asia route and/or if BA continues to have success with the Nashville-London route.

[BuffaloHome]

Yeah I don't buy that BNA will have to add another runway. A lot of airports a lot busier than BNA make do with fewer runways. But BNA really does need to hurry up with its expansion and renovations, particularly for the baggage carousels and its international concourse.

[DonCorleone]

Tennessean is reporting that several local restaurants have signed letters of intent to place restaurants in the airport under their new model.

This is somewhat a surprise as the last news I'd read on this was that business owners were skeptical that the model the airport authority proposed would be profitable. Basically, instead of the current model where local companies give their name and menu to the airport to run, this would be actually owned, staffed, and delivered by the restaurant owners themselves.

Letters of intent signed by: Hugh Babys, Peg Leg Porker, Emmy Squared Pizza, Grilled Cheeserie, Vui's Kitchen, La Hacienda, TN Brew Works, Pucketts, Barista Parlor, 8th and Roast, Bongo Java, Prince's Hot Chicken, 400 Degrees Hot Chicken, and Hattie B's.

source: Tennessean

edit: comment I read on the Tennessean's FB page "Because eating hot chicken and then getting on a flight is a GREAT idea!"

[CountryGirl2b=]

I hope they provide some decent eating on the 'landside' (before security) of at least one terminal for people waiting for flights to arrive. When I was a kid we often went out to the airport for a NICE dinner watching the planes land and takeoff. Newark used to have a good restaurant, too - called the Newarker I think?

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

Water cooler talk the other day at work that I thought I'd share with my fellow C-D development nerds: someone suggested that Nashville is going to "have to build" a new runway at some point to keep up with all of the growth. His idea was that they'll have to expand their footprint at some point and either build on existing property owned by the Airport Authority or buy up neighboring areas to expand. "It's just growing too fast and they're going to need a new runway".

My knee-jerk reaction was "no way". We have 4 runways now. I've been through several airports with significantly higher passenger #s than ours who have 4 runways. We even have one runway now that can accommodate the 747 and/or A380, though no crosswind runway of the same distance exists. New terminals, new parking, new buildings...certainly. New runway...I'd be shocked if one is ever needed unless there's a massive (and unforeseen) trend change in needing to accommodate mega-wide body jets.

Anyways, thought I'd share an interesting conversation and friendly debate I had recently.

You're probably right. Atlanta has about 100 million passengers per year and I think they have 5 runways. Perhaps Nashville is just looking toward efficient future growth. Atlanta is a nightmare much of the time.

When I first started traveling for work in the early '70s, American had flights from Huntsville to Nashville, then on to Dallas I believe. I may not be remembering correctly, and not being an experienced flyer at the time, but the Nashville airport then seemed awfully small. It was more like a long bus station than a modern airport, and people were wall to wall inside. There were no jet bridges then. Am I remembering even partly correctly? That was before American established their short-lived hub there.

Nashville is probably 4-5 times larger now than it was then, and booming even moreso lately, and the airport is beautiful. There are no longer short flights from here to Nashville, but I've been there several times on other trips.

[shinestx]

Jetbridges came to BNA in the mid 70s. It was a single-story with half-ground level ticketing & baggage operations and a central observation (control) tower, typical of many airports built for mid-size markets in the late 1950s.It was slightly smaller than and built in the same configuration as the Columbus OH airport from the same era. IIRC it had 16 permanent gates with a hastily added additional 6 gates toward the end of its service. The facility was replaced in 1986 with the current facility, built as a hub for AA.

I have an aerial pic, but no permission to post it.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by shinestx

I have an aerial pic, but no permission to post it.

You have my permission.