southwest1675 wrote:

Word on the street is that BNA will be one of the launch cities for WN’s new MIA service. We’ll see. I honestly wouldn’t rule PSP out. Seasonally at least.

If bna doesn’t get mia, it would signal to me that bna is not as important to wn as I think it is.

Jshank83 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

Word on the street is that BNA will be one of the launch cities for WN’s new MIA service. We’ll see. I honestly wouldn’t rule PSP out. Seasonally at least.

Do you know anyone in Nashville who has ever vacationed in Palm Springs? I don’t, although I’m also pretty far outside the relatively narrow demographic who seem to enjoy the place.

I would be shocked if any of the PSP flights will be nonstop east of Denver. I would guess heavy Oakland, SMF, sea, PDX

I think that’s right. And that’s a reflection of PSP, not the strength or weakness of BNA. I would expect to see stuff like BNA-ONT/TUS before BNA-PSP, and I don’t think any of those is terribly likely.

southwest1675 wrote:

Word on the street is that BNA will be one of the launch cities for WN’s new MIA service. We’ll see. I honestly wouldn’t rule PSP out. Seasonally at least.

Pre-COVID obviously, but the expectation was that DL was going to start this route as part of their 2nd round of adds at MIA to support their LATAM JV (obviously DL’s focus city plans have changed completely at this point). Regardless that’s a lot of competition to the great MIA area!

Jshank83 wrote:

I would be shocked if any of the PSP flights will be nonstop east of Denver. I would guess heavy Oakland, SMF, sea, PDX

I could possibly see weekend service to DAL and/or MDW, but your point still stands.

tphuang wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

Word on the street is that BNA will be one of the launch cities for WN’s new MIA service. We’ll see. I honestly wouldn’t rule PSP out. Seasonally at least.

If bna doesn’t get mia, it would signal to me that bna is not as important to wn as I think it is.

Agreed, and it would dumbfound me beyond comprehension. BNA should be as important as DEN going forward for WN. If they don’t start taking BNA more seriously, NK and B6 should be looking hard to grow here when the recovery happens.

BNAMealer wrote:

tphuang wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

Word on the street is that BNA will be one of the launch cities for WN’s new MIA service. We’ll see. I honestly wouldn’t rule PSP out. Seasonally at least.

If bna doesn’t get mia, it would signal to me that bna is not as important to wn as I think it is.

Agreed, and it would dumbfound me beyond comprehension. BNA should be as important as DEN going forward for WN. If they don’t start taking BNA more seriously, NK and B6 should be looking hard to grow here when the recovery happens.

What else really should/could WN do at this stage?

reednavy wrote:

BNAMealer wrote:

tphuang wrote:

If bna doesn’t get mia, it would signal to me that bna is not as important to wn as I think it is.

Agreed, and it would dumbfound me beyond comprehension. BNA should be as important as DEN going forward for WN. If they don’t start taking BNA more seriously, NK and B6 should be looking hard to grow here when the recovery happens.

What else really should/could WN do at this stage?

When demand recovers, turn BNA into their SE megastation in the vein of DEN/BWI. Given long term economic and demographic trends, it makes sense.

reednavy wrote:

BNAMealer wrote:

tphuang wrote:

If bna doesn’t get mia, it would signal to me that bna is not as important to wn as I think it is.

Agreed, and it would dumbfound me beyond comprehension. BNA should be as important as DEN going forward for WN. If they don’t start taking BNA more seriously, NK and B6 should be looking hard to grow here when the recovery happens.

What else really should/could WN do at this stage?

Add service to LIT, BHM, CVG, BDL, IND, and PBI. Potentially even MEM...

Rumor has it the Admirals Club will be reopening in October.

southwest1675 wrote:

reednavy wrote:

BNAMealer wrote:

Agreed, and it would dumbfound me beyond comprehension. BNA should be as important as DEN going forward for WN. If they don’t start taking BNA more seriously, NK and B6 should be looking hard to grow here when the recovery happens.

What else really should/could WN do at this stage?

Add service to LIT, BHM, CVG, BDL, IND, and PBI. Potentially even MEM...

PBI now that's a route I can get behind!!

gsg013 wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

reednavy wrote:

What else really should/could WN do at this stage?

Add service to LIT, BHM, CVG, BDL, IND, and PBI. Potentially even MEM...

PBI now that's a route I can get behind!!

They flew it back in the early 2000s I believe.

southwest1675 wrote:

reednavy wrote:

BNAMealer wrote:

Agreed, and it would dumbfound me beyond comprehension. BNA should be as important as DEN going forward for WN. If they don’t start taking BNA more seriously, NK and B6 should be looking hard to grow here when the recovery happens.

What else really should/could WN do at this stage?

Add service to LIT, BHM, CVG, BDL, IND, and PBI. Potentially even MEM...

As long as oil prices remain rock bottom (who knows how long this will last), really short routes from BNA like MEM, LIT, BHM and SDF might be viable; WN recently announced the resumption of SDF-ATL so SDF-BNA might be less likely for the time being.

When fuel spiked about a decade ago, WN dropped many shorter routes such as IND-STL and LIT-STL. But both of these routes are back thus perhaps giving a little hope for other WN "focus cities" such as BNA.

BNAMealer wrote:

reednavy wrote:

BNAMealer wrote:

Agreed, and it would dumbfound me beyond comprehension. BNA should be as important as DEN going forward for WN. If they don’t start taking BNA more seriously, NK and B6 should be looking hard to grow here when the recovery happens.

What else really should/could WN do at this stage?

When demand recovers, turn BNA into their SE megastation in the vein of DEN/BWI. Given long term economic and demographic trends, it makes sense.

That "when" is the single biggest question.

tnair1974 wrote:

As long as oil prices remain rock bottom (who knows how long this will last), really short routes from BNA like MEM, LIT, BHM and SDF might be viable; WN recently announced the resumption of SDF-ATL so SDF-BNA might be less likely for the time being.

WN is unlikely to add BNA-SDF nonstop service with SDF being only 151 mi from BNA and with SDF already having nonstop or 1-stop connecting service on WN through other cities to most of the destinations that WN currently serves nonstop from BNA. In addition, OGG-KOA, HNL-OGG, HNL-LIH, MDW-GRR, DEN-HDN, and AUS-HOU are also the only WN nonstop routes that are shorter than BNA-SDF.

LIT is far enough from BNA to support BNA-LIT nonstop service on WN with both DAL and STL being closer to LIT than BNA is. In addition, STL is also currently the only destination east of LIT that WN still serves nonstop from LIT after WN dropped LIT-BWI/MDW nonstop service back in 2016. It might make sense for WN to add BNA-LIT nonstop service as WN adding BNA-LIT nonstop service would provide travelers in the LIT market with easier access to the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast from LIT on WN.

While WN previously served BHM nonstop from BNA, the PDEW of BNA-BHM was fewer than 30 passengers per day between 2001 Q4 and 2012 Q4. While WN re-adding BNA-BHM nonstop service would provide easier access to some destinations in the Midwest, Northeast, and North Carolina such as CLT, CLE, CMH, DTW, MCI, MKE, MSP, LGA, PHL, PIT, RDU, and STL on WN, WN is probably unlikely to re-add BNA-BHM nonstop service with BHM being only 177 miles from BNA and with WN having very little O&D traffic on BNA-BHM nonstop flights back in 2012.

MEM might be far enough from BNA to support BNA-MEM nonstop service on WN with MEM being 200 miles from BNA, but MEM already has nonstop or 1-stop connecting service to most WN domestic destinations east of the Mississippi River through ATL, BWI, or MDW. DL also had very little O&D traffic on the BNA-MEM nonstop route after the DL-NW merger but prior to DL discontinuing BNA-MEM nonstop service.

tnair1974 wrote:

When fuel spiked about a decade ago, WN dropped many shorter routes such as IND-STL and LIT-STL. But both of these routes are back thus perhaps giving a little hope for other WN "focus cities" such as BNA.

When WN re-added LIT-STL nonstop service 4 years ago, WN dropped nonstop service to BWI and MDW from LIT.

WN has already dropped IND-MDW nonstop service and reduced IND-MCI nonstop service from 2 daily nonstops to 1 daily nonstop. WN is also scheduled to resume IND-STL nonstop service on November 4th.

jplatts wrote:

tnair1974 wrote:

As long as oil prices remain rock bottom (who knows how long this will last), really short routes from BNA like MEM, LIT, BHM and SDF might be viable; WN recently announced the resumption of SDF-ATL so SDF-BNA might be less likely for the time being.

While WN previously served BHM nonstop from BNA, the PDEW of BNA-BHM was fewer than 30 passengers per day between 2001 Q4 and 2012 Q4. While WN re-adding BNA-BHM nonstop service would provide easier access to some destinations in the Midwest, Northeast, and North Carolina such as CLT, CLE, CMH, DTW, MCI, MKE, MSP, LGA, PHL, PIT, RDU, and STL on WN, WN is probably unlikely to re-add BNA-BHM nonstop service with BHM being only 177 miles from BNA and with WN having very little O&D traffic on BNA-BHM nonstop flights back in 2012.

tnair1974 wrote:

When fuel spiked about a decade ago, WN dropped many shorter routes such as IND-STL and LIT-STL. But both of these routes are back thus perhaps giving a little hope for other WN "focus cities" such as BNA.

While there may be little O&D traffic for BHM-BNA, it could be a good avenue for a couple of medium demand routes from BHM (if marketed correctly). Maybe BHM-BNA-BOS, or BHM-BNA-SFO, or some other route that there is medium demand for in BHM. Plus it gets another quick connection option out of BHM that isn't BWI or MDW (aka competing with all of the BHM-ATL traffic on DL).

Scoots71 wrote:

jplatts wrote:

tnair1974 wrote:

As long as oil prices remain rock bottom (who knows how long this will last), really short routes from BNA like MEM, LIT, BHM and SDF might be viable; WN recently announced the resumption of SDF-ATL so SDF-BNA might be less likely for the time being.

While WN previously served BHM nonstop from BNA, the PDEW of BNA-BHM was fewer than 30 passengers per day between 2001 Q4 and 2012 Q4. While WN re-adding BNA-BHM nonstop service would provide easier access to some destinations in the Midwest, Northeast, and North Carolina such as CLT, CLE, CMH, DTW, MCI, MKE, MSP, LGA, PHL, PIT, RDU, and STL on WN, WN is probably unlikely to re-add BNA-BHM nonstop service with BHM being only 177 miles from BNA and with WN having very little O&D traffic on BNA-BHM nonstop flights back in 2012.

tnair1974 wrote:

When fuel spiked about a decade ago, WN dropped many shorter routes such as IND-STL and LIT-STL. But both of these routes are back thus perhaps giving a little hope for other WN "focus cities" such as BNA.

While there may be little O&D traffic for BHM-BNA, it could be a good avenue for a couple of medium demand routes from BHM (if marketed correctly). Maybe BHM-BNA-BOS, or BHM-BNA-SFO, or some other route that there is medium demand for in BHM. Plus it gets another quick connection option out of BHM that isn't BWI or MDW (aka competing with all of the BHM-ATL traffic on DL).

The BNA-BHM flights were mainly used as DAL feeder flights back in the Wright Amendment days. There would be a lot of BHM-BNA flights that were full for through or connecting flights.

I took a BHM-BNA-RDU flight way back in January, 2009. I have no memory of how full the flight was. I seem to also have a memory of a BHM-SDF flight around the same time. I’m sure that was related to the Wright Amendment.

I used to fly BNA-BHM frequently back in the day, even going back to when AA was flying the route during the BNA hub days. Was always filled, usually with people flying thru to MSY or to DAL later on when BHM-DAL was allowed.

To my knowledge, WN has never had BNA-SDF flights. Even before the BNA hub days (which connected SDF via mainline AA and Eagle), KN (Air Kentucky, via Beech 99 turboprops) and AA had BNA-SDF service but this was way back during the 1970s to early 80s.

As a sidenote, UPS at Nashville trucks its Next Day Air packages via I-65 to/from UPS's Worldport at SDF. But with infrequent diversions, a few pics of UPS planes at BNA are in the Photos section.

One nice BNA memory of mine was seeing a FedEx MD-11 actually land on Runway 20C about fifteen years ago (before FedEx built its current facility). While many planes of all sizes depart from 20C, usually only smaller general aviation traffic lands on this runway so seeing such a huge plane touch down on 20C was a rare treat.

With all due respect to my fellow Nashvillians, WN adding nonstop service to places like SDF, CVG, IND, and MEM made little to no sense pre-COVID and certainly makes no sense now. All of these cities are 3-4 hours drive time each way, which isn't that much longer than flying, would be cheaper to drive than fly with all expenses included (Ubers to/from airport, parking, etc.), and a car lets you come and go whenever you want without being tied to the couple of flight departures each day. LIT is about the closest airport I could see them starting service to. If WN didn't offer nonstop BNA-OKC/TUL service for as long as they did (or, didn't), they're not going to add these routes anytime soon.

HeyHey wrote:

I took a BHM-BNA-RDU flight way back in January, 2009. I have no memory of how full the flight was. I seem to also have a memory of a BHM-SDF flight around the same time. I’m sure that was related to the Wright Amendment.

WN indeed had BHM-SDF, but I seem to recall those flights generally came from Houston. But perhaps some flights could have been from DAL as IIRC Alabama was added relatively late to the Wright Amendment.

tnair1974 wrote:

HeyHey wrote:

I took a BHM-BNA-RDU flight way back in January, 2009. I have no memory of how full the flight was. I seem to also have a memory of a BHM-SDF flight around the same time. I’m sure that was related to the Wright Amendment.

WN indeed had BHM-SDF, but I seem to recall those flights generally came from Houston. But perhaps some flights could have been from DAL thus Wright Amendment related.

Was DAL-BNA allowed during the wright amendment? I thought it was only states touching Texas and plus Missouri.

Who knows what WN will add in the future from BNA? COVID has really thrown a wrench into things...... I’m glad MNAA is committed to finishing the original BNA Vision, but sadly, it looks like it may be a while before WN can take all of C/D due to the likely delay of Vision 2.0.

One thing that hopefully comes out of this is that airlines use less real estate and utilize more flights per gate. This could negate the need to build some of the expensive plans that were being planned for Vision 2.0 and beyond. It will be interesting to see how traffic is over the next few years and how much of the BNA Master Plan (prepared pre-COVID) will need to be implemented. They were planning projects that could’ve expanded the current terminal with up to 80 total gates, plus preserving land for a Terminal 2. To be honest, I think this crisis puts to bed any potential need for a Terminal 2 for the next 25 years at least.

Jshank83 wrote:

tnair1974 wrote:

HeyHey wrote:

I took a BHM-BNA-RDU flight way back in January, 2009. I have no memory of how full the flight was. I seem to also have a memory of a BHM-SDF flight around the same time. I’m sure that was related to the Wright Amendment.

WN indeed had BHM-SDF, but I seem to recall those flights generally came from Houston. But perhaps some flights could have been from DAL thus Wright Amendment related.

Was DAL-BNA allowed during the wright amendment? I thought it was only states touching Texas and plus Missouri.

Nope they weren’t allow to fly DAL-BNA. Think the furthest route East was BHM. Farthest West was ABQ. WN ran BHM service outta of BNA from 87-14. Right when the BHM flights ended, they added like 4 daily flights to DAL.

Scoots71 wrote:

jplatts wrote:

tnair1974 wrote:

As long as oil prices remain rock bottom (who knows how long this will last), really short routes from BNA like MEM, LIT, BHM and SDF might be viable; WN recently announced the resumption of SDF-ATL so SDF-BNA might be less likely for the time being.

While WN previously served BHM nonstop from BNA, the PDEW of BNA-BHM was fewer than 30 passengers per day between 2001 Q4 and 2012 Q4. While WN re-adding BNA-BHM nonstop service would provide easier access to some destinations in the Midwest, Northeast, and North Carolina such as CLT, CLE, CMH, DTW, MCI, MKE, MSP, LGA, PHL, PIT, RDU, and STL on WN, WN is probably unlikely to re-add BNA-BHM nonstop service with BHM being only 177 miles from BNA and with WN having very little O&D traffic on BNA-BHM nonstop flights back in 2012.

tnair1974 wrote:

When fuel spiked about a decade ago, WN dropped many shorter routes such as IND-STL and LIT-STL. But both of these routes are back thus perhaps giving a little hope for other WN "focus cities" such as BNA.

While there may be little O&D traffic for BHM-BNA, it could be a good avenue for a couple of medium demand routes from BHM (if marketed correctly). Maybe BHM-BNA-BOS, or BHM-BNA-SFO, or some other route that there is medium demand for in BHM. Plus it gets another quick connection option out of BHM that isn't BWI or MDW (aka competing with all of the BHM-ATL traffic on DL).

This. O&D traffic is meaningless for a route like BHM-BNA. Currently, if you want to fly this route, it’d probably be quicker to drive with connection times. This could capture people who drive to Nash and also provide a more useful routing for flights to east coast in WN. I fly BHM-PHL often, and AA tends to get my money because of direct, but DL would be next. Would much rather connect in ATL to get to PHL than MCO or MDW. Just not logical routing. BHM BNA could work well

Does anyone know when construction on the Terminal Access Road improvements/Donelson Pike relocation will begin?

There's a brand new Spirit 320 NEO at Smyrna. Wonder what it's doing there. Still has the french registration.

Jshank83 wrote:

Was DAL-BNA allowed during the wright amendment? I thought it was only states touching Texas and plus Missouri.

Back when Wright was in effect, there was this dance called the "Texas Two-Step" which basically meant buying two separate tickets, say DAL-ELP then ELP-LAX or MDW-STL then STL-DAL. Perfectly legal (if unadvertised) and some flights were "suspiciously" timed for these sorts of itineraries. WN fare buckets were simpler then as well so buying two separate tickets was still cheaper than one of the legacies.

southwest1675 wrote:

There's a brand new Spirit 320 NEO at Smyrna. Wonder what it's doing there. Still has the french registration.

I read it flew in from BFM yesterday ahead of the hurricane.

AVLAirlineFreq wrote:

Rumor has it the Admirals Club will be reopening in October.

AA confirmed today that the Admirals Club is reopening next month: https://thepointsguy.com/news/american- ... e-lounges/

runner13 wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

There's a brand new Spirit 320 NEO at Smyrna. Wonder what it's doing there. Still has the french registration.

I read it flew in from BFM yesterday ahead of the hurricane.

Do Airbus planes assembled in the US carry a French "pre" registration?

rexchase12 wrote:

runner13 wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

There's a brand new Spirit 320 NEO at Smyrna. Wonder what it's doing there. Still has the french registration.

I read it flew in from BFM yesterday ahead of the hurricane.

Do Airbus planes assembled in the US carry a French "pre" registration?

I don’t know. Good news about the Admirals Club. Any news on when AA’s LAX flights will be back? Also with the CDC relaxing the 15 airports that can accept international flights when do y’all think we’ll see Air Canada, Westjet, and British Airways back?

Saw a gulfstream G700 in and our of BNA this morning. is this the first time the G7 has visited nashville?

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N49 ... /KBNA/KBWG

Anybody know why an Eaterrn 762 is in town?
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/EAL ... /KELP/KBNA

rexchase12 wrote:

Anybody know why an Eaterrn 762 is in town?
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/EAL ... /KELP/KBNA

Looks like it parked on the SW part of the airfield. Not sure what is over there google lists. Metro Air Services. Looks like cargo operators?

Jshank83 wrote:

rexchase12 wrote:

Anybody know why an Eastern 762 is in town?
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/EAL ... /KELP/KBNA

Looks like it parked on the SW part of the airfield. Not sure what is over there google lists. Metro Air Services. Looks like cargo operators?

The (old) freight ramp does handle "people" charters. The Titans leave from there. Now showing it's heading for MIA.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N604KW

Gary Kelly did an interview with TPG, and this quote stood out to me, “Now, if things get back to normal, [investing in new cities] will have a hard time competing for our need to invest in St. Louis or Nashville or Austin.”

Here’s the link to the full interview: https://thepointsguy.com/news/southwest ... lly-qanda/

Not strictly BNA related but rather BNA-adjacent...flew into Smyrna the other day and found out there's a 727 boneyard there! Pan-Am, TWA, Delta, a bunch of them are painted up and everything. Had no clue this was here at all.

rexchase12 wrote:

Anybody know why an Eaterrn 762 is in town?
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/EAL ... /KELP/KBNA

Nashville Soccer Club Charter, they played Inter Miami.

Wow, a bit large for a soccer team. I guess the A220 they took to Texas wasn't large enough or this trip they have sponsors on board. Thanks for the info!

rexchase12 wrote:

Wow, a bit large for a soccer team. I guess the A220 they took to Texas wasn't large enough or this trip they have sponsors on board. Thanks for the info!

After some further digging scratch what I said. For whatever reason Google was showing them playing Miami today but it was wrong. So it WASN’T the Soccer Team. My apologies!

Bringing up Smyrna airport brought back a funny memory. We were landing on 31 at BNA and we flew fight over Smyrna. This was probably 35 years ago or mote. There was a non skid airline that flew stretch DC-8s that was based there ( name escapes me ). There was a huge hanger there and they had half of the front of a DC-8 sticking out of the front of the hanger, and the rear of another DC-8 sticking out of the rear of the hanger. It made for the oddest illusion, looking like the longest stretched DC-8 ever.
Just sorry I couldn’t point it out to pax’s,but we had a great laugh up front.

There was a non skid airline that flew stretch DC-8s that was based there ( name escapes me ). [/i][/I]

Capitol (International) Airlines had a base there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Air

Thank you,
That was it, I enjoyed the Wiki article.

737MAX7 wrote:

rexchase12 wrote:

Wow, a bit large for a soccer team. I guess the A220 they took to Texas wasn't large enough or this trip they have sponsors on board. Thanks for the info!

After some further digging scratch what I said. For whatever reason Google was showing them playing Miami today but it was wrong. So it WASN’T the Soccer Team. My apologies!

Discovered today it was a military charter.

skitchie wrote:

Not strictly BNA related but rather BNA-adjacent...flew into Smyrna the other day and found out there's a 727 boneyard there! Pan-Am, TWA, Delta, a bunch of them are painted up and everything. Had no clue this was here at all.

My then-preteen daughter and I went to Smyrna about ten years ago for the Great Tennessee Airshow. I recall seeing the many decommissioned 722s of PanAm, DL, NW, etc. There were a few DC-8s as well. But while Capitol (distinguished from the other airline that was spelled "Capital") had DC-8s at Smyrna, Capitol ceased operations during the 1980s. The photo database says Emery/ex-Emery DC-8s were at Smyrna in more recent decades.

Anyway, I'm very surprised those 722s are still there today. Did the operator that was scrapping the planes go under or something?

The wet humid Tennessee climate sure has taken its toll on these once grand birds.

WN adding SLC and BDL from BNA. Nice adds!

southwest1675 wrote:

WN adding SLC and BDL from BNA. Nice adds!

It appears BDL has been pulled and SLC lasts for a week around Thanksgiving and only on select days.

737MAX7 wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

WN adding SLC and BDL from BNA. Nice adds!

It appears BDL has been pulled and SLC lasts for a week around Thanksgiving and only on select days.

CUN is back on Saturdays in November.

Jshank83 wrote:

737MAX7 wrote:

southwest1675 wrote:

WN adding SLC and BDL from BNA. Nice adds!

It appears BDL has been pulled and SLC lasts for a week around Thanksgiving and only on select days.

CUN is back on Saturdays in November.

That should be interesting, the normal way we tow from the Customs gates back to the C concourse is closed due to construction. I’m assuming they will have to have the pilots taxi it over to C?