Nashville Airspace Overview

Why It Matters

The upgrades safeguard Nashville’s ability to handle soaring passenger demand, protect local neighborhoods from noise, and reinforce the airport’s role as a key economic driver for the region.

Key Takeaways

• Passenger traffic at BNA doubled, reaching 25.7M in 2025.
• New PBN procedures and departure headings improve safety, efficiency.
• $3 billion “New Horizon” expansion prepares for 40M passengers.
• Updated STARs and SIDs reduce delays and shorten flight paths.
• Community engagement aims to mitigate noise and inform residents.

Summary

The FAA’s Community Engagement video, presented by Doug Kreulen, CEO of Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, outlines recent amendments to performance‑based navigation (PBN) and new departure headings designed to accommodate rapid traffic growth at Nashville International Airport (BNA) and neighboring airports.

Over the past decade BNA’s passenger volume more than doubled to a record 25.7 million in 2025, supporting 13.8 billion dollars of economic impact and nearly 80 000 jobs. To match this surge, the authority completed the $1.5 billion “BNA Vision” program and is now executing a $3 billion “New Horizon” expansion that adds gates, retail space and capacity for up to 40 million passengers annually. The FAA introduced revised STARs, SIDs and three‑to‑four new departure headings in spring and fall 2025, giving controllers greater flexibility and keeping aircraft within established track dispersion zones.

Kreulen highlighted that the updated procedures allow aircraft to climb faster, reducing noise footprints over surrounding communities. The new north‑flow headings (345°, 20°, 55°) and south‑flow headings (250°, 220°, 200°, 160°) illustrate the concrete changes, while the airport now operates roughly 800 flights daily across four runways, with 114 nonstop destinations—the highest in its history.

These enhancements position BNA as the FAA’s 28th busiest airport, improve on‑time performance, and bolster the region’s economic engine while addressing community concerns. The collaborative FAA‑airport approach demonstrates how airspace modernization can sustain growth, increase safety and mitigate environmental impacts.

Original Description

This video provides an overview of operations at Nashville International Airport, its surrounding airspace, highlighting the updated departure headings that were implemented in spring 2025 and the amended Performance Based Navigation procedures or “PBN” that were implemented in fall 2025.

FAA Community Engagement website: https://https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/community_engagement