If this happens, Nashville may eventually have one of the easiest airport names in America to remember.
Dolly Parton International Airport.
What began as a fan campaign has now become a serious proposal.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Nashville International Airport announced Friday, August 28, that they’re formally working toward naming BNA in honor of Dolly Parton.
And this isn’t simply an online petition anymore.
The Metro Nashville Airport Authority will officially take up the proposal at its September 17 meeting.
The idea had actually been floating around before Dolly’s death.
A petition to rename the airport began in 2025 but exploded after Dolly died August 25.
Within days, it had attracted well over 100,000 signatures, while politicians and Nashville figures began publicly supporting the idea.
Then Governor Lee and the airport made it official.
Lee says he spoke with Dolly’s team about the proposal following her death.
According to the governor’s office, her representatives were touched by the idea and are open to continuing the conversation.
And the airport itself seems to think the name fits.
BNA president and CEO Doug Kreulen called the airport the “front door to Music City” and said Dolly represented the welcoming spirit Nashville wants visitors to experience when they arrive.
That’s actually a pretty strong argument.
Think about the first few minutes of a tourist’s trip to Nashville.
They get off the plane.
Walk through an airport where somebody is probably already playing live music.
Then they see Dolly Parton’s name on the building.
You know exactly what city you’ve arrived in.
There are still several steps before anybody starts replacing the signs.
The airport authority has to address its current naming policy and the proposal itself at the September meeting, and additional approvals would follow. So this isn’t a done deal yet.
There’s also an interesting little piece of Nashville trivia hiding in the current airport name.
The letters BNA come from the airport’s original name, Berry Field Nashville, honoring Col. Harry S. Berry.
So even if the airport eventually becomes Dolly Parton International, don’t necessarily expect the three-letter code on your luggage tag to change.
And honestly?
BNA may still work.
“Big Nashville Airport.”
“Beautiful Nashville Airport.”
Or maybe Nashville just keeps the letters because everybody already knows where they’re going.
The name on the building would be the important part.
Dolly spent her career carrying Tennessee around the world.
There’s something pretty fitting about putting her name on the place where the world arrives in Tennessee.
Official Tennessee announcement on the Dolly Parton airport proposal
