On your next flight out of Nashville, you may be departing from the Dolly Parton International Airport.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Nashville International Airport announced Aug. 28 that they intend to name BNA after the legendary crooner.
"Gov. Lee spoke with Dolly’s team about the proposal this week," Lee's office said in a statement. "Her team expressed their appreciation for the extraordinary outpouring of support to honor Dolly and said they are touched by the idea and open to continuing the conversation."
On Aug. 28, a plane towing a banner urging the renaming of Nashville International Airport after Dolly Parton buzzed over the Tennessee State Capitol just after 8 a.m.
The aircraft was paid for by online petition platform Change.org and it directed
thousands of onlookers below tosign the Change.org petition to support the name change. The effort to rename Nashville International Airport began last year.
"Everybody is looking for a way to honor Dolly and her legacy," petition organizer Dan Dion said. "Our airport is so important, and there's symbolism in flying into Parton Airport. With Dolly’s message of love, acceptance, music, kindness, humor and all these things, people feel that she is representative of what Tennessee truly is."
Lee said Parton's unique enduring legacy is one of pride for the state.
“Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state,” Lee said. “From her rural mountain home in East Tennessee to global stages, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit with her. At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.”
The Metro Nashville Airport Authority will address current policy that bars them from naming BNA after Parton at their Sept. 17 meeting.
The campaign to rename Nashville International Airport after Dolly Parton began in January 2025, when Dion and comedian Lydia Popovich launched an online petition as lawmakers considered a separate proposal to rename BNA for President Donald Trump. Dion said the effort was never intended as a political statement.
“It wasn’t an explicitly anti-Trump thing,” Dion said. “It was always pro-Dolly, and still continues to be.”
What started as a grassroots effort quickly gained momentum, eventually drawing national attention and reaching Parton herself. According to Dion, the singer was surprised that so many people supported putting her name on the airport. Popovich had hoped to discuss the campaign with Parton during one of her planned Las Vegas performances, but those plans changed when Parton canceled her residency earlier this year because of health issues.
The campaign garnered enough attention online that it reached Parton herself. In an exclusive conversation with The Tennessean on Jan. 28, 2025, at Belmont University, Parton said she didn't expect anyone to take the request seriously.
"I think that's probably more of a joke than anything," Parton said. "I mean, it does sound like a lot of fun to say: 'Your flight is departin' from Nashville's D. Parton.'"
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lee, BNA seek to rename Nashville airport after Dolly Parton
