We arrange charter flights for professional, college and youth teams traveling to and from Nashville, whether that is a visiting team flying in for a game or a Middle Tennessee program heading out on the road.
The travel party and the equipment
When you first call, tell us the whole travel party: players, coaches, trainers, medical staff, broadcasters and anyone else on the trip. Then send the equipment list. Team bags, uniforms, medical kits and training gear are heavy and bulky, and on many trips they decide the aircraft as much as the seat count does.
If a game goes to overtime, the departure can usually move later with it, within the crew’s duty limits, so the team can still plan to fly home the same night.
Roster size and the FAA rules
FAR Part 135 is the set of FAA rules for on-demand, for-hire charter. Once the group runs past nineteen passengers, the trip calls for an airliner-size aircraft and no longer falls under FAR Part 135. Those flights operate under FAR Part 121 or a foreign equivalent, which generally carries stricter crew and operating requirements than both Part 91 and Part 135. A full roster with coaches and staff often goes past that number, so let us know the headcount early.
Which Nashville airport
The control tower at Nashville International Airport (BNA) is open around the clock, which helps when a night game runs late and the team wants to leave straight afterward.
Smyrna Airport, southeast of the city near Murfreesboro, has the longest runway of the general aviation airports around Nashville. The airport asks for 24 hours’ prior permission for any operation carrying more than 30 passengers, so we plan for that when Smyrna suits the trip. Its tower is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.
Planning a season
If you are planning a full season, send us the schedule. With the dates and cities in hand, we can line up aircraft and crews for the whole year. For the larger aircraft used on team trips, see our VIP airliners.
Vetting Behind Every Trip
Every operator, aircraft, and crew goes through our internal due diligence before we present any options. Our internal standards meet or exceed what the FAA requires:
- FAR Part 135 charter operators for traditional private aircraft, or FAR Part 121 for airliner-size and group trips (or the foreign equivalent on international legs)
- Operator subscription to Wyvern and ARGUS reviewed where the operator participates.
- Pilot experience and operator incident history reviewed before we recommend an aircraft.
- Fewer than 60 brokers worldwide hold Premium Wyvern Broker Member status, and Air Charter Advisors is one of them.
Nashville-Specific Patterns We Plan Around
Nashville International is the only airport in the Nashville area with customs, so a flight arriving from abroad lands there first. Tower hours shape the rest of the choice. Nashville International is staffed around the clock, John C. Tune from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Smyrna until 10 p.m. on weekdays and 7 p.m. on weekends, so a late departure from either of those two takes a little more planning. Franklin and Brentwood have no airport of their own, and clients there usually fly from Nashville International or John C. Tune. Ramp space at Nashville International gets tight on big event weekends, such as Titans home games, and in spring a line of thunderstorms can hold departures until it passes.
Contact
For a quote on a Nashville charter, send the trip through our contact page or call an advisor at 1-888-987-5387. Our safety page sets out how we review operators and crews, and the aircraft gallery covers every category we arrange. We are also a member of the National Business Aviation Association.