From the Insurance City to Music City, USA.
Southwest announced Thursday plans to fly nonstop from Bradley International Airport to Nashville, Tennessee, beginning in March 2021.
“Southwest is excited to offer travelers from Bradley International Airport (BDL) daily service to the vibrant city of Nashville beginning in March 2021. In addition to offering Music City as a nonstop Southwest destination from BDL, the new service will provide convenient, one-stop connections to over 40 other Southwest destinations currently served via Nashville International Airport,” said Brian Parrish, Southwest Airlines' Spokesperson in a prepared statement. “We appreciate the continued support from New England customers, and the Southwest Team is always ready to welcome BDL travelers with our legendary hospitality, low fares, and our Bags Fly Free offering for every customer.”
The announcement comes Bradley feels the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and collapse of the travel industry.
Before COVID, Bradley had 90 planes leave and 90 planes arrive each day. Today, 30 leave and 30 arrive daily. Southwest Airlines has gone from 20 planes a day to four.
Statistics from the Airport Authority show passenger traffic at Bradley down 58% through July. In the first seven months of 2019, Bradley had 3.9 million passenger boardings and arrivals. This year, it was 1.6 million. Traffic in July, normally a busy vacation month, was off 74%, from 603,144 enplanements and deplanements to 155,444.
Amongst flights Bradly lost was what was its lone transatlantic service to Dublin, Ireland.
Legally, Aer Lingus could resume its flights to Dublin. But it’s unlikely given that fall and winter are slow times for its European service. Restoring nonstop trans-Atlantic service was a big step forward for Bradley in 2016.
The addition of Nashville as a nonstop destination is welcomed as progress.
“We are very pleased to welcome the addition of this new, desirable nonstop flight to Nashville on Southwest Airlines,” said Kevin A. Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority in a prepared statement. “Nashville is a popular destination that will also offer our passengers key connectivity to major destinations across the west coast. This is a significant addition to our route network with an airline that has been an important partner at Bradley International Airport for more than 20 years. We thank Southwest for their continued vote of confidence in Bradley Airport and our market.”
Southwest plans to fly the route daily with a Boeing 737 leaving Bradley each day at 3 p.m. our time and arriving in Nashville at 4:50 p.m. Central Time.
The return flights leave Nashville at 10:25 a.m. Central Time and arrive at Bradley at 2:05 p.m. Eastern.