Nashville International Airport (BNA) traces its origins to June 12, 1937, when Berry Field officially opened with a single concrete runway, two hangars, and a terminal building, the product of one of the first major Works Progress Administration projects in the region. The airport was dedicated on November 1, 1936, and named for Col. Harry S. Berry, the Tennessee WPA administrator who oversaw its construction. Regularly scheduled commercial service began in July 1937.

The airport expanded in 1961, when a new terminal opened to serve what had grown to more than 500,000 annual passengers. By the early 1980s, capacity was again strained, and the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority commissioned a new terminal design from architect Robert Lamb Hart and the firm Gresham, Smith and Partners. Construction began in 1984 and completed in 1987; a year later the facility was officially renamed Nashville International Airport, though the IATA code BNA (short for Berry Field Nashville) remained unchanged. American Airlines established a hub at BNA in 1986, peaking at 265 daily departures to 79 cities in 1993 before closing the hub in 1995. Southwest Airlines stepped into that vacuum and became the airport's dominant carrier, reshaping BNA around an origin-and-destination model.

Located roughly 8 miles southeast of downtown Nashville, BNA covers approximately 4,500 acres and operates 4 runways, 3 parallel and 1 intersecting. It is the busiest airport in Tennessee. In fiscal year 2024-25 it handled a record 24.7 million passengers, supported by Southwest, Delta, American, United, and international carriers including British Airways, Air Canada, and Aer Lingus. A $1.5 billion expansion program, BNA Vision, completed in February 2024, added gates, a new Grand Lobby, and an on-site hotel. A second terminal is now in planning, with a development timeline extending to 2038.