NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Nashville International Airport announced Friday that they intend to rename BNA in honor of Dolly Parton, the East Tennessee icon who died August 25 in Nashville at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer.
The announcement is not a done deal. It formally moves the proposal into the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s process, and the authority is expected to take up its naming policy alongside Lee’s proposal at a meeting scheduled for September 17. Airport officials say more details will come in the following weeks.
“Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state,” Lee said in a statement announcing the plan. “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.”
Lee’s office said the governor spoke with Parton’s team about the idea this week. Her team said it appreciated the outpouring of public support, was touched by the proposal, and remains open to continuing the conversation.
Doug Kreulen, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, framed the airport’s role in the tribute.
“BNA is the front door to Music City, and with that comes a responsibility to reflect the very best of who we are as a community,” Kreulen said, adding that Parton’s legacy reflects Nashville’s ability to welcome people from every walk of life.
Not a new idea
The push to rename the airport didn’t start this week. A Change.org petition calling for the airport to be renamed “Dolly Parton International Airport” was actually created back in January 2025, well before Parton’s death, and had gathered a modest following. It calls on Lee and three state House members to make the change. You can sign it by clicking the link.
Since Parton’s death Tuesday, the petition has taken off. Signatures climbed from roughly 50,000 earlier in the week to more than 156,000 by Friday, with tens of thousands of those added in the days immediately following her passing.
The momentum has reached the Tennessee legislature as well. At least one state lawmaker has pledged to file legislation renaming the airport when the General Assembly convenes in January, and another has said he’ll file a bill designating September 25 as “9 to 5 Day” in honor of Parton’s hit song. Other lawmakers have signaled they plan additional tributes once the session begins.
Parton was born in Sevier County and rose from a childhood of rural poverty in the Great Smoky Mountains to become one of the best-selling and most decorated recording artists in American history, while maintaining deep, visible ties to her home state. Her philanthropy, including the Dollywood Foundation and her Imagination Library, has provided hundreds of millions of free books to children around the world.
Supporters of the renaming effort argue that an airport built to welcome the world to Tennessee is a fitting place to put her name — a first impression of the state shaped by the same woman who never stopped calling it home.
For now, BNA’s name has not changed. The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority will take up the proposal, along with its existing naming policy, at its September 17 meeting. Lynchburg residents who want to follow along, or add their names to the petition, can watch for updates from the governor’s office and the airport authority in the coming weeks. •
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