BNA Vision was a seven-year, $1.5 billion overhaul of Nashville International Airport that ran from 2017 through February 2024. It is the reason BNA today feels like a different building than it did a decade ago, and understanding what it built is useful context for anyone flying through the airport.
What BNA Vision Actually Built
The program addressed a fundamental problem: Nashville’s population and tourism kept growing faster than airport planners had modeled. By the mid-2010s, the terminal was congested, the international facility was inadequate, and the overall passenger experience was increasingly miserable. BNA Vision tackled this in several concurrent phases.
The most visible outcome is the Grand Lobby, a 200,000-square-foot central hall that opened in January 2024. It consolidated security into a single checkpoint with up to 24 screening lanes, replaced the fragmented old layout with a marketplace area containing dining and retail, and dramatically expanded the arrivals experience. The physical footprint of the terminal was pushed outward approximately 50 feet at the front and 168 feet at the rear to accommodate the expanded footprint.
The International Arrivals Facility (IAF) opened in September 2023 as a separate major component. BNA had international service before but processed arriving international passengers through makeshift facilities. The IAF added six international gates and a Customs and Border Protection area engineered to process 800 passengers per hour using biometric screening technology. This enabled BNA to add and expand direct international routes to London Heathrow, Dublin, Toronto, and Mexican beach destinations.
In October 2023, an interim satellite concourse adjacent to Concourse C added gates to relieve pressure while longer-term construction continued. The program also expanded the aircraft apron in two phases to increase parking and maneuvering room for planes.
The final piece to open was the on-airport Hilton-branded hotel in February 2024, which sits atop Terminal Garage 2 with 298 rooms including seven suites. The hotel includes a rooftop pool, the BNA Sky Pavilion, meeting spaces, and dining. It is the only hotel physically connected to the terminal via skybridge, eliminating any outdoor travel between the hotel and gates.
What Changed for Passengers
Before BNA Vision, the airport had become genuinely unpleasant during peak periods. Security queues snaked through undersized hallways. International arrivals meant cramped processing through spaces not designed for the volume. The dining options were largely undistinguished. The physical layout made wayfinding confusing.
After BNA Vision, security is faster, the terminal is brighter and more spacious, international arrivals work properly, and the local restaurant program that Fraport Nashville developed (which earned the 2025 ACI-NA Richard A. Griesbach Award for Excellence in Airport Concessions) replaced most of the generic chains.
New Horizon: The Follow-On
BNA Vision’s completion did not represent a finished airport. Nashville’s growth had outpaced even the projections made in 2017. Before BNA Vision was done, airport leadership had already designed the next program.
New Horizon is a $3 billion expansion running through 2029, bringing the combined investment at BNA since 2017 to $4.5 billion. Its components include the Concourse D extension (five new gates, eight new dining and retail spots, BNA’s first outdoor terrace in a record-shaped rotunda, opened July 2025), a complete demolition and rebuild of Concourse A into a 16-gate concourse (Concourse A closed September 2025, scheduled to reopen July 2028), a new three-mile baggage handling network replacing the aging split system, and major roadway restructuring including the relocation of Donelson Pike with a new Diverging Diamond Interchange opened June 2025.
A Terminal 2 on a reserved 309-acre property is the project after New Horizon, currently projected for completion around 2038.
The Numbers
BNA Vision cost: $1.5 billion. New Horizon cost: $3 billion. Combined since 2017: $4.5 billion. No local tax dollars have been used in either program; funding comes from bonds, federal and state aviation grants, and Passenger Facility Charges collected from ticket purchases.
In fiscal year 2024-25, BNA hit a record 24.7 million passengers. The capacity being built through New Horizon targets 40 million annual passengers. Whether Nashville’s growth trajectory reaches that number on schedule or ahead of schedule is the open question the airport is betting $3 billion on.
Sources
- BNA New Horizon Official Page: flynashville.com/bna-new-horizon
- BNA Vision Official Page: bnavisionnashville.com
- Nashville Post: As Nashville grows, BNA grows alongside it (July 2025)
- Aviation Pros: Nashville International Airport Soars with the Completion of BNA Vision – aviationpros.com
- Construction Equipment Guide: New Horizon at Nashville’s Airport (December 2024) – constructionequipmentguide.com
- Williamson Herald: A New Horizon at BNA – williamsonherald.com
- Passenger Terminal Today: New Horizon expansion plans unveiled (June 2022)