NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Things have been looking a lot different these days at Nashville's John C. Tune Airport after multiple renovations.
A look inside the terminal showed where dozens of improvements have been made.
They've updated the flooring and the walls, as well as added new furniture, more seating, a coffee bar, and an expanded conference room.
That conference room can be used for a number of things.
“A lot of people fly in and have the meetings here at the airport, and there have been some requests due to the small size that we had previously they’d have to travel to another location downtown,” said Robert Ramsey, Chief Engineer. “This allows them to fly in for a meeting and conduct the meeting here, and then hop on their plane and fly back to wherever they came from.”
Also outside, the north end runway safety area has been expanded to 1,000 feet in length, meeting FAA guidelines.
But they had to do something different on the south end, where they installed gray concrete blocks.
They're called EMAS, and should last a good 20 years, unless they have to stop a plane.
“The purpose of the EMAS system, or engineered material arresting system, is to stop aircraft in the event that they overrun the runway and bring the aircraft safely to a controlled stop,” Ramsey said. “Very similar to a runaway truck ramp on the interstate system.”
John C Tune was closed for 60 days while they made all the changes.
