"Nashville airport set to grow hand-in-hand with the city it serves"

Monday, October 23, 2006

Airport set to grow hand-in-hand with the city it serves 
By Jared Allen
The Nashville (TN) City Paper

   
Growing lines and limited food and shopping options will soon be a thing of
the past, supporters say, as the Nashville Airport Authority today begins a
six-year, $49 million renovation project designed to finally let Music
City's airport reflect the current flavor of the Music City.

The renovation project, which won approval six months ago, will include a
plethora of new restaurants and shops, a redesign of the airport's interior,
and a consolidated security checkpoint, which will increase the number of
security lanes from the current seven in two places to 11 located at a
single entry point.

Through the renovation project, airport officials hope to grow the airport
enough to more than meet the demands currently being placed on it by an
expanding city.

Nashville International Airport (BNA) has come a long way since its original
days as a regional hub for American Airlines.

After American moved its hub away, airport officials took advantage of
numerous unaccounted for gates to attract other carriers, most notably
Southwest Airlines and, most recently, JetBlue.

That transformed BNA into one of the south's premiere low-cost departure and
destination airports.

But the change also cost the airport some of its usability, as greater
percentages of passengers were coming in from the parking areas, not just
jumping from gate to gate, members of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport
Authority's (MNAA) board said.

Now, airport officials, with the full support of the business community, are
looking to change that.

"In a nutshell, the redesign is about customer service, and providing those
premiere facility and services for our customers," said Lynne Lowrance,
spokeswoman for the MNAA

"We've been getting requests for a long time for national and local name
brand restaurants. That's one of the things we felt like we could really
improve upon and wanted to do that," Lowrance added.

But the renovation is also about streamlining security at a time of growing
volume and more stringent federal safety rules.

Two weeks ago, BNA experienced its longest ever security wait times, which
at their peak surpassed an hour.

Despite that unforeseen phenomenon, airport officials still feel as though
their security plans will continue to meet their needs, even years down the
road.

"We feel like once we get our 11 lanes in place we will have an adequate
number of lanes to service our traffic flow appropriately," Lowrance said.

"So we still feel like we're still on target to accommodate everyone in a
streamlined, free-flowing fashion."

MNAA Board Vice Chairwoman Ann Butterworth said the lines and the much
increased passenger volume, despite being unforeseen, were not a surprise.

"We're pleased that the authority professionals are working to keep up with
those numbers and assess what our needs will be even in the future,"
Butterworth said. "I feel very comfortable that it has been planned out
well."

She also said that even though the renovation plan officially begins today,
what has been drawn up is by no means etched in stone.

"It's still a plan, so, to the extent that we can, we still have flexibility
to adapt as needs change."

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