Nashville officials are moving to sue Tennessee over a new law that would shift appointment authority for the board overseeing Nashville International Airport and John C. Tune Airport, a fight Mayor Freddie O'Connell said on June 10 is now headed to court. He directed Metro’s Department of Law to challenge the legislation approved during the 2026 legislative session, and city officials said the case could be filed as early as Wednesday.
The dispute matters now because the law is scheduled to take effect July 1, giving the state authority over appointments to the Metro Nashville Airport Authority and four other airport authorities across Tennessee. Under the current system, board members are appointed by Nashville’s mayor and confirmed by the Metro Council, and the board hires the airport’s president and chief executive officer, approves major projects and helps steer long-term development and operations.
O'Connell said the city is seeking to maintain local control of the airport authority and believes the state’s latest action conflicts with federal law. Metro officials say a 2024 federal law requires approval from an existing airport sponsor before certain governance changes can occur, limiting Tennessee’s ability to take control without the consent of the current governing board. Metro Director of Law Wally Dietz said the city plans to seek an injunction to stop the law from taking effect while the case is litigated.
State lawmakers, meanwhile, argue the airport authorities are public entities created under state law and are therefore subject to legislative oversight. Supporters of the measure say it creates a broader statewide framework for airport governance rather than targeting Nashville alone, even as the new law lands in the middle of a long-running fight over who controls one of the state’s busiest transportation hubs.
This is not the first time Nashville has gone to court over airport board control. Tennessee lawmakers passed a restructuring law in 2023, Metro challenged it and won in Davidson County Chancery Court, and a three-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Appeals later upheld that ruling. That case is now pending before the Tennessee Supreme Court, leaving the latest lawsuit to unfold while the earlier fight is still unresolved.
The stakes are practical as much as legal. Nashville International Airport continues a period of rapid growth and expansion, and whoever controls the board will help shape the people hired to run it, the projects it backs and the direction of the airport for years to come. For now, the question is whether a court will block the new law before July 1.
