Bridgestone Officials Have Eyes Set On A Direct Flight To Japan From Nashville

Bridgestone Americas CEO Gary Garfield talking to reporters in front of a Christmas tree in the hallway outside of Metro Council chambers. Credit: Bobby Allyn/WPLN

As officials from Bridgestone Americas lobby for tax breaks to re-locate its homebase in downtown Nashville, they are also in the midst of another pitch: landing a direct flight to Japan.

The tire maker’s CEO Gary Garfield is preparing for Tuesday night’s second of three votes in Metro Council over giving Bridgestone a 20-year tax-break to build what would be one of downtown’s tallest skyscrapers.

If it passes, Garfield is promising to bring 600 new jobs to Tennessee. But before they do, he’ll be working on making it easier to travel between Nashville and Tokyo, where Bridgestone is based.

“We met with the governor’s office here. We had meetings in Japan. Meetings with the ambassador of Japan from the United States. Meetings with airline officials in Japan. And it’s something we’re working very hard on,” Garfield said.

“When you’re flying here to Japan, or back, it’s extremely taxing because of the time change. The last thing you want to do when you do land in the United States is get on another flight, wait for the flight, then get on another flight — sometimes there are delays because of weather or mechanical problems. So it would make a very big difference for us if there were direct flights to Japan.”  

Avoiding airport connections in places like Chicago and Dallas would, in Garfield’s estimate, make doing business a little easier.