First time back at BNA since COVID? Airport officials say give yourself extra time.

Nashville International Airport is not what it was before COVID. It’s partway into a billion-dollar expansion, and BNA officials say they expect many people flying out this week may need to give themselves extra time to compensate.

Amid the pandemic, the airport has continued its multi-year construction project. So now there are two covered parking garages instead of just one. There are also now two sides of the airport — so going into the wrong terminal entrance requires a long walk to be remedied.

And some of the construction is just in the way until it’s complete, including a new hotel being built above the departures drop-off.

“It’s just where we are, and in 2023 this is going to be an airport that everybody is going to be proud to call their own,” says spokesperson Stacey Nickens.

Aside from the construction obstacles, this may be the busiest Thanksgiving in the airport’s history.

Travel has already been back to pre-pandemic levels in the airport. And Nickens says they expect to break 30,000 daily passengers for the first time ever this week.

“You used to be able to come here in an hour to get through. Not anymore,” she says. “It’s just a lot of people traveling through the airport.”

However, with a number of new local restaurants and coffee shops setting up in the airport, Nickens says passengers departing Nashville will at least have some exploring to do if they happen to pass the security lines more quickly than expected.

But the usual holiday travel tips are the same, just with more emphasis: be prepared, arrive early and expect delays. And masks are still required.