Stacey Nickens on the Nashville International Airport
Stacey Nickens is the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing at the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, where she leads corporate messaging, media relations, crisis communications, and customer experience initiatives to strengthen engagement with travelers and the broader community.
About Stacey Nickens
Stacey Nickens is the Vice President of Corporate Communications at Nashville International Airport (BNA), one of the fastest-growing airports in the country. In this role, she serves as the airport’s spokesperson and leads internal and external communications, community relations, special events and campaigns, and the Arts at the Airport program, which blends world-class visual art with the city’s signature live music scene.
With a background in both public relations and public service, Stacey has helped guide BNA’s transformation from a regional travel hub into a civic destination—one that reflects Nashville’s identity through its design, vendors, and cultural programming. Her team’s work ensures that every detail of the airport tells a story, from the local restaurants and shops that line its concourses to the art and music that greet travelers the moment they step inside.
About BNA
BNA’s growth is staggering: the airport served 23.7 million passengers in fiscal year 2024—an 8.4% increase over the prior year—and is expected to finish fiscal year 2025 in the mid–20 million range. With more than 90,000 passengers on peak days and 114 nonstop destinations, BNA is expanding not only in size but in scope, connecting Middle Tennessee to the world while keeping community values at its core. This growth is fueled by New Horizon, a $3 billion expansion and renovation plan set to be completed in 2029. The project includes new concourses, an International Arrivals Facility, a reimagined Marketplace and Grand Lobby, additional parking and transportation infrastructure, and even an on-site hotel.
Resources
BNA
New Horizon Expansion
End of Year Video
Record-Breaking Year
-
Spencer: Stacey Nickens, welcome to Signature Required.
Stacey: Hi, I am happy to be here.
Spencer: You are the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.
Spencer: For those that are just listening to us, you really need to turn on the video because we are in a really sweet spot here where people are rolling down the escalators, looking at what's going on here. That's it. We, we've got a good, a pretty good [00:01:00] setup here.
Stacey: Absolutely. You're in our Central terminal, which is huge for us because for a while we had two terminals during the construction. So this was a really big part of our BNA vision to have one central checkpoint.
Spencer: So how long have you been with the airport? Because depending upon this answer, we have a lot of things that we can talk about. So how long have you been here?
Stacey: I started here in 2019. It was six years on June 10th.
Spencer: Wow. So you came right before the fun part for COVID and all the rest, all the, the construction. I mean, you really low
Carli: stress. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Low stress. Low stress.
Spencer: So what is it that is your primary role here with the airport?
Stacey: So I'm responsible for all the internal external communications, the advertising, the pa, all the announcements that you hear with the celebrity voices, um, the music program, arts at the airport, which also includes our, um.
Stacey: Our, our art that you see hanging behind me as well as the music. Um, we have the BNA shop, which is [00:02:00] new for us, where we sell our merchandise, as well as the graphics and events team. Hmm, oh my gosh. So just a few things. Just that's
Carli: just a few. Yeah. Really breezy. Breezy. So you can't help but sit here and look behind us and see there's graphic art, there's visual arts, there's everything.
Carli: So how did you even begin to eat the elephant of. S putting art throughout this huge
Stacey: space. Well, coming on board, art has always been a very big part of Nashville International Airport, and so just to. From 1986. So I'm coming on the history of what's already been established and just continue to elevate is what I like to do with the art.
Stacey: So all of this is all, uh, commissioned art that we have here, and we go through a very serious, um, process with our arts at the Airports board to make sure we get the very best. To the doors of BNA.
Spencer: Now Stacey, you used the word elevate and so I'm only gonna allow you a couple puns. So if that is a part of your normal dialect, I'm gonna allow it.
Spencer: But like airport puns, that's the first one today. That's it. That's it. [00:03:00]
Carli: I say keep 'em coming. There will be no cap.
Spencer: I'm a fan of a dad joke. The limit does not exist. Yeah, that's right. Uh, Carli and I have had the opportunity to travel to a lot of airports across the country. And I'm born and raised here in Nashville.
Spencer: So I've seen this airport mature through just all that our city has gone through. And it's easy to observe that some airports are a disaster. I mean, they are terrible food. The experience is bad. And some of it is, is perhaps intentional and, and probably most of it is just limited in what they have the flexibility to do.
Spencer: So. The Nashville Airport, I feel like has hit its stride in the food is good here. the cleanliness is top notch. There's a lot of things going. We've got a hotel now, like, why don't you walk [00:04:00] through a couple of the highlights of the airport for our listeners that haven't been to the airport recently.
Stacey: So all of the things that you are saying, I'm, I'm really excited to hear because so much of what we've done, we've been through our fair share of growing pains, right? Sure. You're from Nashville. People wanted to still pull up, pop their trunk, wait for their loved one and, and leave. Well, we've grown so much from them.
Stacey: Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. So to provide an experience that's good, not just for people who live in Nashville, but all over the world. So as far as the growth, we knew that we had to build an airport that can come. Really compete with the growth that we were seeing in the city. We needed a new airport. Mm-hmm. So that was first, and that started with BNA vision in 2017.
Stacey: It ended last year with the opening of the hotel in 2020, excuse me, 2024. Now the concessions program is really interesting. We started the Reimagine Concessions program to bring some of the brands that you've come to know and love. The brick and mortar that were on the streets of Nashville [00:05:00] through the doors of BNA, why not have Perna books here?
Stacey: Mm-hmm. I mean, why not have, oh, that's my
Carli: favorite part. Yes, yes. Of the whole airport. I have to tell you, I actually get travel anxiety. I become a really horrible person when we travel. It's like I'm just like, not my nicest self, but I am super motivated to get through security and go pick my book and get my coffee, and it's like, it's made it a much easier experience coming to a place that I don't think I'm alone, that travel.
Carli: Makes you a little anxious for some people. Absolutely. Yeah.
Spencer: Why is that Stacey, that like for restaurants here, like Hattie Be's is one of my favorite hot chicken restaurants. So good. And it's right through security that That's right. And there are tons like voodoo donuts, I mean, all these great choices for food.
Spencer: When I go to other airports, a lot of times the food is just dreadful and I don't understand why, like what is it that Nashville is doing special? That other airports have to recognize that the food is not there. Like, [00:06:00] what is the secret sauce?
Stacey: Well, I, I feel like we have a lot of quality control. Uh, and I, our concessions program is managed by Fraport, so Fraport Tennessee is.
Stacey: Fairport, USA is who manages our concession program, but it gives a lot of pride to those brands, those owners whose name is attached to it. Yeah. To somehow have input on how they want to see their, their brand represented in the airport. So I think that's a big reason for the success, and people just work really hard here.
Stacey: We have some. Standing employees that really just wanna see the best experience for all of our travelers. Mm-hmm. Can I ask how many people work at the airport in concessions
Carli: versus other spaces?
Stacey: Yeah. It's very interesting that you asked that question. So if you have a badge, anyone that works here, we have over 11,000 badge holders.
Stacey: Wow. So that include. Construction workers, anyone who has to be on this premise has to take a security test. As far as the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, we have 500 employees. [00:07:00] Outside of that is a combination of our concession workers. Mm-hmm. Our, um, construction team. Airline team. It's a combination of all those different elements that make up the remaining, uh, number that represents all the batch holders here.
Stacey: Wow. That's a lot of people. A lot of people, yeah.
Spencer: Stacey, part of Carli and I's background is that we've worked alongside FedEx ground for a lot of years and do package delivery for FedEx, so. Interestingly, I have been in parts of this airport having to deliver boxes past security that you just can't believe how big this place is.
Spencer: I mean, there are tunnels and avenues and secret entrances and all this stuff. That's right where it reminds me of like an aircraft carrier, where it is a floating city on the water. That really is the complexity here is you've gotta feed so many people, you've gotta have arrangements for travel. Mm-hmm.
Spencer: What are some of the things that are complexities [00:08:00] that maybe the average person that shows up just expects to come through security and get to their flight? What are some of those complexities?
Stacey: Well, I'll give you an example. We went through five years of construction. The main goal for us was to make sure the passenger experience was not disrupted.
Stacey: How do you do that? How do you make that happen? But that was our goal and that's what we worked hard for every single day, is to make sure your journey was seamless from the moment you exit your car until you were out on the plane and everything in between. Things that we really can't control. We technically cannot control your experience at a concession, but we can.
Stacey: Pass on goodwill, right? To make sure your experience is great. So that was our main goal, is to ensure your journey was not disrupted and to work with all our partners to be aligned with us in that goal.
Carli: Girl, we just did a home renovation. Our life was disrupted. And I tell you, my kids are sleeping on the floor in the basement for six months.
Carli: That is true story. So that must have been a [00:09:00] real job of logistics and thinking through all the mechanics. I can't even imagine.
Stacey: And, and to sit here, I have to give kudos to the incredible team from operations to engineering. We meet every single Thursday to work through all of these things, and we have met that long for six years, and we're still continuing because the construction is not over.
Stacey: We're now a part, we are now in New Horizon, which is the extension of Concourse D, which we'll discuss. Um, while I'll go over some of the details of what that project consists of. So every day we're striving to make sure that journey remains. Seamless. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, let's
Spencer: dive into that right now.
Spencer: Okay. So concourse DI arrived on a flight about 10 days ago, and I saw the moving walkways in behind the curtains. I was sneaking in some places that maybe I wasn't supposed to see. You probably
Carli: shouldn't put that on film. That's
Spencer: right. So talk to us from the airport us, uh, about what's coming in the near term, and then we will look about what's coming in the medium and long term.
Stacey: Okay. So July [00:10:00] 8th, the concourse de extension open eight new gates. 10 new, um, food and bed food beverage and retail locations. So we're pretty excited. 160,000 square feet of space, including a moving walkway. Mm-hmm. That's been a big request for passengers for a very long time. So to kind of be able to meet those needs is really exciting.
Stacey: But to be able to offer new flights, a new space where people can walk through the doors of BNA and experience like they've never experienced BNA before is a very exciting time for us. Mm.
Spencer: We also have a project maybe in the medium or long term. You can help me understand that. Is gonna include potentially a nonstop flight from Asia, right?
Spencer: That's right. And that's gonna mean a longer runway. Is that part of what are, what are some of the components that are going there?
Stacey: So with the very beginning stages of, of that, so we're working with the FAA, there we're years. Um, years away. But it is a priority, you know, first is the FAA, getting involved [00:11:00] and, you know, leading the environmental, uh, assessment of what that, what that potential, uh, impact could be.
Stacey: And then from there it would be a longer runway. We're years away, but it's definitely top of mind. I will tell you that for sure. But we've gotten
Carli: so many new international nonstops, I mean. How much of that I just have to ask. As a Titans fan, as soon as we got that flight right to Europe, then the Titans played over there in London.
Carli: So that's so fun for our city and for our state, you
Stacey: know, so. I will tell you in April of this year, we, um, we had our two first inaugural flights, the first one to Iceland. Mm-hmm. Which was on April 10th. And on April 12th was our first nonstop to Ireland. I happened to be coming in on the inaugural flight from Iceland, and I cannot tell you the.
Stacey: Excitement that was on their flight. We cheered, we yell, I forgot I was from Nashville. You would have thought I was from Iceland. I'm, I'm cheering. I'm tearing up like, wait, I live here. I'm excited. Right. But just the [00:12:00] excitement, the families, the children, everyone wants to come to Nashville and experience it and vice versa.
Stacey: People are going to Iceland and Ireland, so. People are excited and that's what we want to happen. We want to continue to bring people here and they take advantage of these nonstop destinations so we can continue to get new ones.
Carli: It's interesting to me how much it impacts family buying behavior because the number of people that I know that went for fall break mm-hmm.
Carli: And then spring break, uh, to Iceland or Ireland or London. Was exponentially more than it used to be, and you would think you could puddle jump to Atlanta or Chicago and go, but there is something uniquely special about a direct flight. Leaving from your hometown or a short drive from your house that makes you want to purchase that experience?
Stacey: I mean, I think Nonstops are attractive and international if you haven't been. I mean, we all wanna expose our children to new things. Yeah. And even ourselves, if you're traveling as a single person, [00:13:00] you want to experience the world and to be able to do that in your own city, I mean, that's pretty attractive.
Stacey: That's cool. I agree. I agree.
Spencer: Stacey, what prepares you for this role that you started in 2019? Because what I hear in your answers is that. You've gotta be part construction supervisor. Clearly you have to be an excellent communicator. You have to be personnel management. You have all these things. What prepared you to step into this role?
Stacey: It's very interesting. I originally started as a director of customer experience. So my main job was to ensure the journey was seamless. I then was promoted to assistant vice president of corporate communications and then on to vice president. So every touch point in my career since I've been here has been working to make sure I work with all the pertinent teams here at the airport to make sure I understand the facts.
Stacey: Mm-hmm. To communicate to the public, but to also make sure that I'm being transparent to represent the airport in a way that brings you. Back and forth to the [00:14:00] airport and something to make you proud of. We won't being able to be an airport for everyone. I love, not just the employees. The employees can love it 'cause we work here.
Stacey: Right. But without your support and without your admiration, we couldn't do what we do.
Spencer: I could imagine that. When your friends and family fly with you, when you are in other airports, you're either probably the coolest person to be with or the most annoying person to be with because you see what nobody else sees.
Spencer: So which one is it on that spectrum? I'm
Stacey: a perfect blend of both. From taking the pictures with my husband, he's like, what? What are you doing? I wanna take a picture of this. Pet relief area. I think ours looks better. So it matters, right. People love their pets, girl. That's right. Keep going. Right? Yeah. To, to be able to go and communicate that.
Stacey: But even if something is simple as signage. Mm-hmm. Oh, they have a signage about this. Maybe we should get this. Maybe again, it'll make the passenger's journey easier and it's make it easier for you to navigate an airport. 'cause we know, as you said. There's a lot [00:15:00] of anxiety that exists with a lot of travelers.
Stacey: I'm always looking at what can we do to make it easier, and so that's what I look for at airports.
Carli: What is one thing that might not currently be here but that you have taken a selfie with somewhere else that you is on your bucket list to add to BNA.
Stacey: I think we have it, but I think having more of a area, we ha we just have a mural up now that has all our international flights and it gives people a interactive way to capture that.
Stacey: I would want more of those experiences because for us. We want to engage with you. Mm-hmm. The more engagement we see, the more excited you are to come through the doors. So for us it's just more engagement. Mm-hmm. We continue to get food that's always a priority. We still gonna get work on our retail options.
Stacey: We're gonna keep working on our roadways. All the things that you know, we'll do, but some of the more personal experiences is what I would wanna see us. Do a little bit more of.
Spencer: Detroit has an interesting interactive feature that you can take your ticket and [00:16:00] right once you're past security, you can scan it and then it gives you a rendering of where you're about to go,
Spencer: And it's a pretty. Pretty cool experience, especially for the kids. Mm-hmm. And you know, give just something to be able to break up the intensity of going through an airport.
Stacey: Yeah. Just some of that interactive feeling. You know, you say you travel with your kids, we have something like that now. We have smaller touch points, but to have it throughout the airport would be ideal.
Carli: Well, we have tween slash teen daughters, and so they are very grateful for all your coffee beverage stations in this airport. I cannot get through security without them being like, mama, have you put the Starbucks order in yet? But there is unique coffee options depending on what terminal you're in, and we fly them all.
Carli: Um, I really enjoy that. So the
Stacey: Barista parlor. Yeah. Aham Rose. I mean we, oh, they're so Gigi Coffee, we have 'em all over. Mm-hmm. So that, again, that's intentional as well because remember when we had the one Starbucks? Oh my gosh, how many people remember that? Yeah. There were about to be fights and hair pulling at that [00:17:00] Starbucks.
Stacey: We've come a long way.
Carli: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I have to ask, and it, I know they're all your babies. Okay. Like, you probably can't answer this question, but if you get a lunch break and you're like, I'm gonna go sneak. And eat my lunch somewhere. Where is your hidden gem that people probably are overlooking food wise?
Carli: I love them all. I'm gonna start with that. Of course. They're your babies.
Stacey: Yes. When I come across the street, uh, from where our office is, I go to Titan's, press box.
Okay.
Stacey: I don't know, I just get like a hometown feel when I go there. I like all of them, but it's just a nice place to sit down. People watch and it's in the center of the airport, so I, I just like locations like that.
Stacey: It's open, and so that's why I typically go because I'm getting away from the hustle and bustle over in the office just to sit down and relax. So I typically go over there. Good people watching. That's it. Yeah, I agree.
Spencer: So Stacey, amongst all of the good things that are coming here, there are are always pinch points and pain points along the way. So [00:18:00] when we talk to people about the airport, the things that they'll want to be able to ask you if they were sitting here and saying, okay, what about parking?
Spencer: Hmm. And seeing full garages, full parking lots, are there plans to address that? And, and they'll shortly follow that up sometimes with the traffic that's right of the arrivals or departures. So can you speak to some of those for people that would say, I love everything that's going, but sometimes when I see my small city become a big city.
Spencer: We pick up a couple things along the way that that's right, that it's not that it can be solved tomorrow, but is there a plan to address those? So can you kind of touch on those two?
Stacey: Absolutely. So I'll start with the traffic first, because that was the last piece of the puzzle, um, to work with. So here's, here's the deal.
Stacey: We're working with our TDOT partners. If it's on our property, we can move as fast as we want. But we have to work with TDOT [00:19:00] on the other, the other spaces surrounding the airport. They're phenomenal partners. So what you, what you are seeing happening now? You are seeing them push back Donaldson Pike?
Stacey: Once they push back Donaldson Pike, we now have three lanes around our roadway. We call our ring road, we're gonna go from three lanes to six lanes. By 2028.
Okay.
Stacey: That is going to help us accommodate all of this growth that you see here. It was the last piece of the puzzle for a number of reasons that it didn't.
Stacey: Move as fast as the other construction, but now we're on board to move forward and that's what you see happening now. So that will be alleviated in just a little while, but you know what's gonna happen? More people gonna continue to move back. Need 12 lanes of traffic. That's right. Yeah. But we are moving from, so that.
Stacey: One lane that we have now, I mean, excuse me. The ring road that we have now is three lanes. That's one mile. We're gonna go from six lanes, it's gonna take us to two miles. Okay. We believe that that is going to help alleviate the traffic, [00:20:00] um, that we see today. As far as parking, there are plans for new garages.
Stacey: Mm-hmm. There are forthcoming, um. A little bit down the road from some of those decisions, but yes, it is top of mind. Again, this growth is incredible. It's part of the growing pains, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Stacey: We're growing fast. We're trying to accommodate, but it takes time to build money. But we're on it and we're promised we're gonna deliver the airport that people have come to know and love and airport to accommodate this growth that we're seeing.
Spencer: Something else that has been a first for me is seeing different brands of carriers pop up here that, you know, you're all used to your classic legacy carriers. That's right. You got Southwest and Delta and American, United, all the classic ones, but there's some names here that I've never seen before and.
Spencer: I just wonder what that experience has been like as you're having to educate passengers and also deal with new carriers. Like what has that been like?
Stacey: Well, working with our air service development team, [00:21:00] it's always, I mean, it's a privilege to get new air service. Because again, we're meeting the needs of passengers.
Stacey: No one wants to fly where these flights are going and where these, these carriers are providing service. So for us, we educate 'em immediately. As soon as we get the go ahead, we work directly with the airline. We're putting out press releases, media advisors. We're telling the story to get people more comfortable with the service, but for.
Stacey: It's always a big deal. Anytime we get flights, the the ones that have come out recently is some of the more unusual names have all been Canadian carriers. We fly to all the top five Canadian cities and they all have different air carriers that offer that service outside of Air Canada, which has become the one that everyone knows.
Stacey: Yeah. Yeah.
Carli: Okay. I have to go into one topic area, I can't believe we haven't touched is the live music. When you get off a plane in Nashville, you feel in the best way. Like you're on Broadway. That's right. Like it's a taste of what you came to the city for. And we've had the privilege of talking [00:22:00] to some various musicians that work on Broadway on this podcast and it is not easy to get your foot in the door in Music City.
Carli: Everyone here is coming with a guitar case and a dream, right? That's right. So it's not, it is not an easy thing. How do you guys. Pick the talent because there are really talented musicians at the BNA airport.
Stacey: We rarely have openings, to be very honest. Yeah. When we do, we start going back through our database, but.
Stacey: Music is such an integral part of what we do here, and I'm glad to hear you say Broadway because we are the first and last impression of the city. So why not have the music that you will experience in downtown Nashville? Right here at BNA? So we're really intentional when we bring in conferences.
Stacey: We wanna know where they're from. We wanna play the music that they're accustomed to. When we had the, uh, Ireland team here, we had music that we knew that would love. We had the dancers. We want people to feel immersed in the culture, not just just BNA but Music City and what Music City offers for [00:23:00] each culture and how we're, how we are more together than we are different.
Stacey: And you
Carli: talked about the messages that keep playing like, I am love the Olympics. I love gymnastics. So you have Sean Johnson Yes. On repeat down at the baggage claim. And I always am like, let's go. How do you pick the talent that you're gonna have? Do that? Do they call you up and be like, I wanna be on a loop at the airport?
Carli: You
Stacey: know, they don't. We typically go, I, I'll be honest, we typically go through like who are the A-list artists that are from Nashville? Top shelves. We, we've just got tapped into that because we're becoming a huge culinary city. City.
Oh yeah. We're, yeah.
Stacey: So Nate Bruski, music City. They, they reached out to us because he was interested.
Stacey: So we sent him the scripts and he recorded in no time. So from him to, uh, Sean Brock, uh, Monique Shohan, these are all names of people who are very interested. It takes them very little time to send back their message for us to play through here. So we typically start with our A-list people that are from Nashville.
Stacey: Mm-hmm. And people that are making a difference in [00:24:00] Nashville. 'cause you'll also hear our mayor's voice as well when you come through the doors.
Spencer: Stacey, I have a funny story that has stuck with me for years and years, so you have to indulge me in this. Oh, no. There was, uh, another airport that was dealing with really severe issues with the baggage claim, so passengers were having to wait forever.
Spencer: And the passengers at the end would score the airport really poorly because they were having to wait for 20 or 30 minutes for their bags. And it was, like you said, the first and last experience, it was not what they wanted. And so this airport really had limited control of what they could do, what the baggage claim process.
Spencer: And so what they decided to do was to reroute the passengers as they were exiting from the terminals. To make the walk to baggage claim longer intentionally. Wow. And by doing so psychologically, the passengers ended up waiting less [00:25:00] time at the baggage claim. And this airport satisfaction scores went through the roof because of this psychological element.
Spencer: That's right. And it stuck with me all these years because it just is amazing, the psychology that goes into the customer experience. And so where I'm going with that is you obviously have control of some things, but there's so many things that happen here that you don't have control of, but all the same people will hold you responsible for it.
Spencer: Absolutely. And ask you for an answer. So how do you deal with that just personally and professionally? People don't want to hear that. You can't control that element. So how have you had to manage that over the years?
Stacey: I always look at it like an opportunity to educate the public. Yes, I would do the same thing if I didn't know if I lost my bag, I'm calling BNA.
Stacey: Mm-hmm. So when they call, it's like, thank you for calling. We understand your concern. However, we're gonna [00:26:00] put you in touch with Southwest. Mm-hmm. Here's their baggage claim office. Please let us know if you have any other concerns. Immediately educating them, but also being. Showing a little empathy, right?
Stacey: Mm-hmm. We've been there. I've lost a bag before.
Yeah.
Stacey: So just showing the empathy, but educating 'em on the correct process. Mm-hmm. Because we go through it all the time. Same with concessions. We don't cook, but it's the airport. Right? We want you to have a great experience. So we work very closely with our, um, concessions team to figure out not only.
Stacey: How are you're like, sure. Or did you respond back, but what's the long-term resolution to make sure this doesn't happen again?
Spencer: Yeah. So Stacey, the immediate future is concourse D. That's right. And we can see the evidence that that is about to be front and center for all of us. What happens beyond concourse D?
Spencer: What then moves us kind of to the intermediate period?
Stacey: So after concourse D opens, concourse a will then close. Not just close. It will be demolished. Once it's rebuilt. It will be our [00:27:00] largest concourse here at BNA. So if you notice, when you come up on 40, all the concrete is the same level where it used to be a drop, but we filled that space so that we can build out a completely
Stacey: and we're gonna have planes parking on both sides right now.
Stacey: You just see one side in 2029, you'll see planes on both sides. Two moving walkways.
Live
Stacey: stage. Ticket counters. Really? Yes. Oh, that's cool. Yes.
Spencer: And so that construction begins in like 2025 2026 and, and it's hope to end 2029. Was that the right timeframe?
Stacey: Yes. So we're real, um, we try to stick to our deadline.
Stacey: So it's gonna end in 2029, but yeah, it's, it's. gonna start towards the, fall of this year. And then we're really looking forward to 2029. So you have to come back out, maybe come behind the scenes and take a sneak peek so that you see, so you can see how all this comes together. [00:28:00]
Spencer: And having a hotel here is a really fascinating thing.
Spencer: And I just wonder what that experience has been like. Has that been successful? Uh, is that something that, uh. Is there any further plans for like, just walk us through that, that hotel edition.
Stacey: I think the hotel was the missing piece to the puzzle. Mm-hmm. If you go anywhere in the country, you, you are staying at hotels, you see hotels at the airport.
Stacey: I don't know, it's because I work here or what, I could be biased, but it's probably one of the prettiest onsite. Uh. Airport hotels I've ever been in. Yeah, there's a rooftop bar, a pool overlooks the runways, but there, there are six suites and it's a really beautiful space. But the most important part is that if you're traveling from Alabama, if you're traveling from Kentucky, you have a 7:00 AM flight.
Yeah.
Stacey: You now can stay here instead of waking up at two in the morning to try to get her to catch her flight again. Taking away some of the anxiety, some of the stress that comes along with travels by offering these [00:29:00] amenities to meet travelers' needs.
Spencer: I, I had a friend literally that left on a four 30 flight this morning that had that exact experience is that they stayed last night at the hotel.
Spencer: So that way they were able to get outta here at a reasonable time. So I'm staying
Stacey: tomorrow night with my fam, my husband, and my son. We fly out Thursday morning at 7:00 AM and I live in Nolansville. So, yeah.
Spencer: So Stacey, the way that we end each of these podcasts is I give you. a short sentence with a fill in the blank at the end.
Spencer: Got it. Uh, and you can fill it in with a word or a short phrase that you feel like completes the thought. so, uh, here's number one.
Spencer: Okay. Okay. The thing that sets BNA apart from other airports is blank.
Stacey: The thing that sets BNA apart from other airports? Is our live music experience and our concessions. Yes ma'am.
Spencer: You nailed that, Carli That was a really good question. You know, we've arrived in The Bahamas sometimes.
Spencer: And you come out and it is [00:30:00] amazing what music does for your experience. And because it's our home airport, we kind of take it for granted. But that's, that, that is so true. Um, two. Okay. What most people don't realize about airports today is blank.
Stacey: What most people don't know about airports today is that every day airports are always seeking new air service. Mm. Every single day airports across the country are always seeking new air service. Mm-hmm.
Spencer: That's good. And then, uh, the last one, behind the scenes at BNA, one of the biggest challenges most travelers never see is.
Spencer: Blank
Stacey: behind the scenes. What most travelers do not see is how the communications team is always trying to communicate the most accurate information on social media to the media. To make sure that [00:31:00] inaccuracies do not exist, to make sure people tell the truth about this airport.
Carli: That is not an easy task.
Carli: For the millions of people that you serve and how high volume, I mean, that is no small feat, so kudos to you and your team for that.
Stacey: Thank you. If you could just go on social media, we can post something and they will have a whole narrative under our posts. And none of it's true. Sure. You mean the Internet's not completely fact checked?
Stacey: I don't think so.
Carli: Oh, darn.
Spencer: Uh, Stacey, it's a real privilege to get to have this conversation with you. Having to navigate the airport and the city through unprecedented changes is not an easy job. Uh, as we talked about earlier, you have to wear a lot of hats. And have a lot of constituents to keep happy, right?
Spencer: And on top of it, it's gotta be profitable and all of the pieces that you have to juggle. It really [00:32:00] is fun to get to sit here with you, uh, hear a couple of airport jokes. You know, we worked those in as that's right, as as we went through this, but also see how seriously you take each and every passenger's experience.
Spencer: Uh, you control what you control. You can't control the things you don't control. That's right. But you do a great job in having a messaging that I think is very consistent with what people have come to understand Nashville to be, uh, which is the South we're welcoming, will feed you, well, will smile and we'll do everything you can to make your day Great.
Spencer: So thank you for being with us, Stacey.
Stacey: Absolutely. And thank you for inviting me.
Spencer: Stacey Nickens, VP of Corporate Communications and Marketing for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority. She has a big job.
Carli: Yeah.
Spencer: She oversees [00:33:00] a lot of what we take for granted in coming to the airport experience where. We really expect things to run on time and we need them to. Mm-hmm. Some of the stats are really crazy.
Spencer: Uh, BNA served 23.7 million passengers in 2024 and 8.4% increase from the year before. They're projected to hit the mid 20 million range in 2025 of passengers on peak days. 90,000 passengers head through BNA on August 5th. BNA will offer 114 nonstop destinations, clearly superior than one or two or three.
Spencer: Stop. If you have three stops in your itinerary, you need to fire whoever booked that plan for you immediately. I'll just put that on the record. And then, uh, BNA vision, which was their plan from 2017 to 2023, was the Airport's first expansion launched after BNA [00:34:00] surpassed 12.2 million passengers in 2016.
Spencer: That was at a $1.3 billion budget. And lastly, the New Horizons Project. That is gonna be the expansion Moving forward. Uh, of course, 1.3 billion wasn't enough, so let's do $3 billion, and that brings BNAs total development since 2017 to $4.5 billion. Uh, which will also buy you approximately the cost of a Titan Stadium.
Spencer: So you can either have all of BNA's development or the Titan Stadium or both, you know, it's Nashville. So we'll do both of them.
Carli: Both. And please.
Spencer: Yes.
Carli: Yeah. It is interesting when you take your airport experience for granted, which I think you do, we're really lucky to be coming in and out of here as often as we do.
Carli: You forget that it is a business. I think she said there's 11,000 badged employees that make this place run. From construction to cleaning crews, to people that serve food, to security, et cetera, et cetera. [00:35:00] I mean, this is a small country it feels like to run and operate and keep going, and so I don't think I fully appreciated.
Carli: Everything that went into our travel experience because as humans, we're a little bit selfish. When we travel, at least I am. I'm thinking about where do I need to be? When do I need to be there? Please get our son off the floor. Don't lick that. Don't touch that. Wash your hands. Like I'm not thinking about what goes into making it so easy.
Carli: So I think I leave this just kind of grateful that we live so close to this airport.
Spencer: I think for someone that specializes in communications, dealing with social media is especially tough. And when you deal with social media combined with what is usually a much more emotional experience for people like high emotions or low emotions, angry emotions, you deal with a type of social media challenge that not a lot of other people could really mm-hmm.
Spencer: Relate [00:36:00] to or speak to. And so I think that also was interesting to hear Stacey talk about. How she manages the difference between the things she can control and the things she can't control. But also just recognizing that there's more than any one communications department can hope to tackle. Mm-hmm. But just by waking up every day and trying to create excellent experiences that mirror the city is the best way that she can serve the.
Spencer: You know, 90 something thousand people that are coming through an airport and are all gonna have their own experiences, positive and negative, a lot of which is outside of BNA's control.
Carli: Yeah. I'm really floored just sitting here for as long as we have today. I have never taken the time to notice all of the art around and how lovely that is.
Carli: We've got these really magical touches that you don't expect when you travel, and I [00:37:00] really appreciate that. Something else I really enjoyed was her humor and her joyful spirit. That is not usually what I associate with airport travel, and just her personality in general gives me such hope and joy about this place because if she is at the helm, I feel really good about it.
