Nashville's airport authority voted 6-0 on Friday to change the policy that governs what its airport can be called, the first formal step toward putting Dolly Parton's name on Nashville International Airport. Friday's vote did not rename anything. That question goes to the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority board on Thursday, September 17.
This distinction matters, because two separate things had to happen. MNAA's existing naming policy required that airport property only be named for someone dead at least two years. Parton died on August 25 at 80, so the rule had to go first. Friday's vote was that.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the intent on August 28, saying he had spoken with Parton's team and that they were open to continuing the conversation. A petition started more than a year before her death had passed 160,000 signatures by the time of his announcement. MNAA said on Friday that no final name has been settled and that it is working with the appropriate parties on how Parton's name and legacy get incorporated.
Nashville · Where it stands
How a US airport actually gets renamed
The FAA does not approve airport names. Every decision below is local.
Clear the naming policy
MNAA's rule required a two-year wait after someone's death. The board voted 6-0 on September 11 to change it.
Vote on the renaming
The board decides whether the airport is renamed at all. Scheduled for September 17. No final wording has been announced.
File the change with the FAA
Administrative only. The agency updates navigational charts and databases so the paperwork matches the sign.
Replace everything with the name on it
Signage, merchandise, uniforms, shuttle decals, and hundreds of legal contracts and government documents.
Bookable under the new name
Six months to a year from the vote. The BNA code stays throughout, so boarding passes and baggage tags never change.
Cost estimated at $8 million to $10 million, funded from Metro, state and airport resources. Verify each step against MNAA and the FAA before relying on this timeline.
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What won't change
BNA, the airport's current code, is staying.
Those three letters honor Colonel Harry S. Berry, who helped build the airport in 1939, and MNAA has said the code stays. So for anyone flying through Nashville, the name on the terminal changes while the boarding pass doesn't. Baggage tags, booking engines and flight plans all keep saying BNA.
The last major US airport renaming went differently. When Palm Beach International became President Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 9 this year, the identifiers changed too, from KPBI and PBI to KDJT and DJT. The FAA issued guidance warning operators about documents that still said PBI. Certificates, authorizing documents and information systems referencing the old code ninety days on could be considered noncompliant.
That left a gap during the changeover. Tickets and interline baggage tags kept showing PBI while airport signage and air traffic operations had moved to DJT.
Keeping BNA avoids all of that. It also means that if you book a flight to Dolly Parton International next year, the confirmation email will still say BNA.
What it costs, and who pays
MNAA has put the renaming at $8 million to $10 million, with funding expected from Metro, state and airport resources. The full process, including signage and administrative paperwork, is expected to run six months to a year before travelers can book to the new name.
MNAA has run these numbers before. In 2025, after discussion of renaming BNA for Trump, the authority studied what a name change would involve. It came back at $10.34 million, according to the Tennessean. That covered signage and updated merchandise, uniforms and shuttle bus decals, plus hundreds of legal contracts and government documents. The Trump proposal did not advance.
Palm Beach County's Department of Airports estimated its own renaming at about $5.5 million. Signage and uniforms there, plus equipment, promotional material and technology updates. Florida pledged roughly half. Its county administrator told the Miami Herald that baseline signage work was covered, but the full job would need the remainder from the state.
Who actually signs off on this
According to the FAA, changing an airport name is a local issue and the agency does not approve name changes. What it does is administrative, updating navigational charts and databases so the paperwork matches the sign.
Which is why the timeline runs to months rather than weeks, even when a vote is unanimous. Decisions sit with the airport authority, and the charts follow afterward.
What happens next
Thursday's board vote is the one that determines whether the airport is renamed. If it passes, MNAA begins the administrative name change process with the FAA, and the signage and contract work starts after that.
What has not been announced is the name itself. Dolly Parton International Airport is the version in circulation, including on MNAA's own social channels, but the authority has been careful to say the final wording is unresolved.
