Who’s in control of Nashville’s airport? U.S. and Tennessee officers disagree beneath a brand new state legislation

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — While Nashville International Airport hums to the tune of dwell music in a terminal full of vacationers and locals alike, this stylish gateway to Tennessee has quietly confronted an id disaster.

Under a brand new state legislation, there isn’t any clear settlement now about who’s in control of airport operations. The confusion comes at a time when the airport is booming, its annual passengers having greater than doubled over the previous decade to 21.8 million by the 2023 fiscal yr.

The nonprofit Metro Nashville Airport Authority and state officers argue {that a} new group of state appointees has lawfully taken over the authority’s board. But federal officers and the town contend the previous board picked by Nashville’s mayor nonetheless has energy.

Both boards met on the identical time final week throughout city from one another.

The dispute heads to a listening to Friday in a state courtroom in Nashville.

Earlier this yr, Republican lawmakers authorised plans for the state to make sufficient appointments to regulate the airport’s board beginning in July. The change was amongst a number of handed by legislators looking for to curtail the ability of the closely Democratic metropolis, whose metro council sunk a bid to convey the 2024 Republican National Convention to Nashville.

PHOTOS: Who’s in control of Nashville’s airport? US and Tennessee officers disagree beneath a brand new state legislation

The metropolis has filed go well with towards the state over the adjustments to the airport authority, which manages, operates, funds and maintains the worldwide airport and a smaller one in Nashville. In the meantime, the authority put in the brand new board members on July 1, saying it will possibly’t defy state legislation and not using a courtroom order.

Citing the Tennessee Constitution, the town’s lawsuit argues the state violated residence rule protections by singling out Nashville with out requiring both a neighborhood referendum or a two-thirds vote of the metro council for the change.

The state responded that Nashville can’t make its claims as a result of the airport authority is unbiased of the native authorities.

City leaders, nonetheless, reached out and acquired enter from the Federal Aviation Administration, which might veto sure adjustments to the airport’s governance. The federal company stated it will hold recognizing the pre-July 1 board till a courtroom decides the lawsuit.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper, a Democrat, has cried foul on the Republican change.

“Nashville’s airport has grown very successfully over the years by the direction of this board, and that’s unquestionable,” Cooper stated throughout a latest assembly of the board he chosen. “Any state action is purely about politics.”

Tennessee’s state of affairs isn’t unprecedented. Due to FAA and courtroom motion, North Carolina’s 2013 legislation to shift management of Charlotte Douglas International Airport from the town to a separate regional board by no means got here to fruition. Mississippi’s 2016 legislation to reconfigure Jackson’s airport stays blocked by an ongoing authorized problem. Georgia lawmakers flirted with flipping the Atlanta airport’s governance in 2019 however opposition sank the proposal.

Nashville officers say the state is upending an airport board with out complaints about its efficiency, even throughout a time of in depth growth.

In the 2023 finances yr, the airport unveiled a brand new foyer, added extra eating places and dwell music, opened an extra parking storage and made progress towards an onsite lodge. The airport hosts nation, jazz and bluegrass live shows in its terminals and reveals the work of native artists.

The facility has endured rising pains, too, marked by passenger pickup traces typically stretching effectively previous a close-by interstate exit.

Lawmakers handed the change regardless of predictions in April by former FAA official Kirk Shaffer that it will create competing boards in “a messy and costly stalemate that damages all involved,” probably jeopardizing federal grant cash.

So far, the battle is essentially unfolding in courtroom filings. The metropolis says misplaced grant cash might halt tasks to accommodate extra flights, spurring cancellations and delays. The state and the airport authority argue the grants aren’t in jeopardy. The authority stated Nashville officers are making “sky-is-falling” exaggerations.

Republican lawmakers contend the state deserves extra say over the rising airport due to its regional affect. House Speaker Cameron Sexton stated lawmakers created “the legally sanctioned board.”

As an intervenor within the lawsuit, the airport authority has remained impartial on whether or not the brand new legislation is unconstitutional. Updates to the FAA have by no means resulted within the federal company directing the authority to cease following the state legislation, whereas even worse disruptions would outcome from an order to quickly return to the preexisting board, the authority wrote.

The state-majority board met on the airport on Wednesday, conducting standard-fare enterprise on contracts and reviews. At the identical time, the members of the mayoral-picked board gathered in metropolis corridor, reiterating that the FAA nonetheless acknowledges them whereas criticizing the state legislation and approving an outdoor lawyer rent.

In a letter to the Nashville neighborhood at massive, the authority’s CEO has acknowledged the “frustration and confusion” attributable to the dispute. But he stated the authority is liable for staying legally compliant.