(The Center Square) – The city of Nashville is suing the state over a law that gives the state the authority over the Metro Nashville Airport Authority Board.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said Wednesday he believes the state violated federal law when it passed Senate Bill 2473, which cedes authority of airports in Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville. A nine-member oversight board will consist of six members appointed by the state and three from the community.
The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority Board held a called meeting on Wednesday and agreed to join in the lawsuit.
“We are asking the court to protect our legal rights because federal law says the FAA will not approve a change of sponsor if the current board does not consent to the change,” O’Connell said in a statement. “This is a classic bait and switch by the state which wrote in its 1969 law that the state would not take over airports transferred to authorities. The success of our airport under local control is unquestioned, and in their quest for absolute control, state lawmakers have – we believe – again violated federal law.”
Director of Law Wally Dietz said Nashville will seek an injunction in federal court to stop the change.
This is the second time Nashville has sued the state over control of the airport. The General Assembly passed a law in 2023 that would have created an eight-member board consisting of two appointees each from the House speaker, the lieutenant governor, the governor and the Nashville mayor. That law only applied to Nashville.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Nashville and the state appealed. Oral arguments in the case were heard by the Tennessee Supreme Court in February, and the case is still pending.
