Could Nashville's Airport Be Privatized?

Correction: An earlier version of this story indicated that Oaktree had already secured a contract to operate Westchester County Airport; in fact, the company is hoping to secure that contract, but has not yet done so.

NASHVILLE, TN — Top Metro officials met with a California-based management company and investment firm in May to learn about the possibility of privatizing Nashville International Airport.

Rich Riebeling, the city's chief operating officer, confirmed the meeting, first reported by the Nashville Business Journal, to The Tennessean, saying that the discussions with Oaktree Capital Management, are "preliminary" but there is the possibility that such an arrangement could generate "low billions" for Metro as it embarks Mayor Megan Barry's ambitious $6 billion mass transit project. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

Oaktree is working to secure a contract to run Westchester County Airport in New York and is hoping to do the same in St. Louis. In April, the United States Department of Transportation gave St. Louis permission to explore privatization possibility.

Responding to The Tennessean's query about the NBJ story, Barry spokesman Sean Braisted described the meeting as "due diligence"

"The mayor's office heard a presentation from experts on the concept of a private-public partnership to operate airports in a way that would generate revenue for public services," Braised wrote.

"We are monitoring this process in St. Louis to determine whether it is feasible for a city the size of Nashville. If Metro could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in funds to pay for needs such as transit, while maintaining a high-quality airport that meets the needs of our growing city, we have a responsibility to the taxpayers of Davidson County to do our due diligence and explore the possibility."

The arrangement would likely be a long-term lease rather than a sale outright, though the Airport Authority's chairman, Bobby Joslin, told The Tennessean that any sort of deal is unlikely, given that Nashville International continues to post record arrivals and adds new routes with regularity, unlike St. Louis and other cities with struggling commercial airports.

Image via Metro Airport Authority