Give a little patience at airport this holiday season

As many Middle Tennesseans begin to plan and prepare for holiday travel, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority wants to encourage you to be sure to allot just a few extra minutes for your travel.

Travelers through Nashville’s International Airport will see — and may be inconvenienced by — a sharply increased amount of construction activity from the continuing renovations at Nashville’s International Airport.

Many of you have already seen the bustling activity at the airport, and while an incredible amount of work has been done at BNA in recent months, much of the previous interior renovations occurred behind dust walls and out of sight, and thus at least partly out of mind.

Once these walls came down, the final products of the work offered Nashville natives and out-of-towners alike a definite “Nashville” welcome. Among the improvements, we have introduced new food, beverage and retail vendors to our terminals — including Nashville icons Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, Swett’s and Neely’s.

In cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration, we also implemented a new, consolidated security checkpoint, with self-select lanes — that has improved the efficiency of TSA’s passenger screening process and offered greater ease and convenience to travelers at BNA.

In addition, we have provided for a variety of other improvements to the terminal, installing new concourse skylights, new flight information displays, and performance stages, all providing a more open, passenger-friendly environment enhancing the Nashville Airports Experience.

In August, a military lounge was opened, which serves as a place for members of our U.S. armed forces and their families to rest and relax while traveling. The Authority has also received a lot of positive feedback about the new waiting areas and pre-security concessions.

Providing all of our customers with a safe and enjoyable experience is the driving force behind these actions, and it has also prompted the Authority’s efforts to communicate its upcoming renovation plans to you.

Unfortunately, we cannot conduct our next phase of the renovation behind dust walls. Work will spread from the roadways and the parking lots to the ticketing and hold room areas.

Phase II includes:

• Renovation of existing public restrooms and construction of a new restroom;

• Replacement of existing heating and air conditioning units;

• Renovation of the airline gate hold rooms; and

• Replacement of all wall coverings on the ticketing, baggage and ground transportation levels.

Other interior work will include increasing public space in the ticket lobby. Following Sept. 11, 2001, much of BNA’s lobby has been dedicated to explosive detection screening machines. As part of the renovations, these machines will be replaced by a new in-line explosive detection system (EDS) that will streamline and improve the safety and security of the screening process for checked baggage.

While we expect the work on the roadway surrounding the airport to be complete by the end of October, much of the remaining work will continue through the holiday season.

So as you plan ahead for the holidays, just know that we are also planning ahead for the airport’s future. This is a continuation of the first major interior renovation of the terminal since it was built more than 20 years ago, and we are making these upgrades with the expectation that they will offer our passengers another two decades of comfort and convenience during their travels.

To receive periodic updates about this and other projects at Nashville International Airport, I encourage you to visit www.flynashville.com and sign up for AIReport, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s e-mail newsletter. The AIReport will help you with your planning and keep you informed on the status and the ongoing progress of renovations throughout the airport.

Again, we thank you for your patience, and we are proud to serve Nashville and the region’s travel needs.