Southwest Airlines is turning up the volume on travel between New England and Music City with a new nonstop route connecting Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire and Nashville International Airport. Announced in mid-February, the service is scheduled to begin on October 1, 2026, and will operate five days a week. For travelers who have long relied on connections through Baltimore, Philadelphia or Washington to make this trip, the change is likely to have a swift and visible impact on how they plan vacations, weekend getaways and even business travel across the Eastern United States.

The Manchester to Nashville route fills a gap that airport officials and local travelers have been talking about for years. Until now, passengers from New Hampshire headed to Tennessee’s capital typically stitched together itineraries involving one or more stops, often facing longer travel times and tighter connections. The new Southwest service will give them a direct path into Nashville, a city that has evolved from country-music capital to a national hotspot for conferences, sports, dining and tech.

Southwest will operate the route five days a week, on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, creating a schedule clearly tailored to leisure demand and long weekends. That pattern aligns with Nashville’s visitor peaks around major events, festival weekends and football season. It also offers flexibility for travelers looking to combine Friday departures with Sunday returns for quick breaks, or to stretch stays into Monday without losing an entire workweek.

The route is being framed as part of a broader push to expand Southwest’s presence in Nashville. The carrier and the airport have highlighted that Nashville International is seeing a record number of daily departures on Southwest as new routes to cities such as Reno and El Paso come online in the same October timeframe. For Manchester, it is an opportunity to plug into a network that increasingly treats Nashville as a central leisure and connecting hub for the region.

Manchester-Boston Regional Airport’s First New Southwest Market Since 2011

For Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, known by its code MHT, the new Nashville service carries special significance. Local officials note that it is the first new destination Southwest has added from Manchester since 2011, a symbolic turning point for an airport focused on regaining momentum after pandemic-era disruptions and competitive pressure from larger airports in Boston and Providence.

Manchester has seen a rebound in passenger numbers and a record year for cargo, with 2025 volumes surpassing previous highs. Against that backdrop, attracting a fresh nonstop route from a major low-cost carrier signals renewed confidence in the region’s travel demand. Airport leaders have called Nashville a “highly sought after” market, suggesting that feedback from local travelers and tourism operators helped shape the push for this connection.

With Nashville added to the map, Southwest’s Manchester portfolio grows to five nonstop destinations: Orlando, Baltimore-Washington, Chicago Midway, Tampa and now Nashville. That mix provides New England travelers with both popular vacation options and convenient connection points deeper into the Southwest network. The Nashville addition, however, stands out as a city-pair that is a destination in its own right while also opening further routing possibilities across the South and Midwest.

New England Travelers Gain a Faster Path to Nashville’s Entertainment Scene

The new route is expected to reshape how New England travelers think about trips to Tennessee. Instead of mapping out connections and layovers, passengers departing from Manchester will be able to fly directly into the heart of Nashville’s booming tourism economy. That makes it easier to plan spontaneous long weekends centered on live music in the Lower Broadway district, visits to the Grand Ole Opry, or food-focused itineraries that combine hot chicken joints, craft breweries and upscale Southern restaurants.

For sports fans, the timing is appealing. An October launch drops the new route into the middle of football season, just as fans travel for games involving the Tennessee Titans or major college matchups in the region. It should also dovetail with autumn festival calendars, from music events to cultural and food festivals that have turned Nashville into a year-round magnet for visitors.

By placing Nashville within reach of a short nonstop flight from New Hampshire, Southwest is likely to expand the visitor pipeline from northern New England and parts of northern Massachusetts for city breaks that once felt logistically cumbersome. Travelers who previously drove to Boston or other larger airports to catch a direct flight may now find it simpler and more cost-effective to start their journey from Manchester instead.

How the Route Can Reshape Business and Conference Travel

While leisure travel is an obvious winner, the Manchester to Nashville addition is also poised to influence business travel patterns. Nashville has spent the past decade building out convention facilities, hotel capacity and a diversified economy that includes healthcare, tech, higher education and professional services. That shift has elevated the city’s role as a meeting and conference destination for regional and national organizations.

For companies based in New Hampshire, Maine and northern Massachusetts, a nonstop option from Manchester offers a more direct pipeline into Nashville’s meeting and convention calendar. Rather than routing teams through hubs like Baltimore or Philadelphia, corporate travelers will have a single-flight option that reduces total travel time and the risk of missed connections, particularly in winter months when weather disruptions can ripple across the network.

The new service could also strengthen ties between the two regions’ business communities. Economic development officials in New Hampshire have emphasized the role of air connectivity in supporting job creation and corporate recruitment. By linking Manchester to Nashville’s dynamic economy and growing innovation scene, Southwest’s route may encourage more cross-regional partnerships, investment visits and industry exchanges that were previously delayed or avoided because of complex travel itineraries.

Connections Beyond Nashville: Opening the Southwest Network

Even for passengers who are not targeting Nashville as their final destination, the new route will change how they navigate the Southwest system. Once in Nashville, travelers can connect onward to a wide range of cities across the South, Midwest and West, often avoiding the larger and more congested hubs farther north. Southwest has been steadily building up Nashville as an important connecting point, adding routes and raising its departure count to new highs.

For Manchester-based travelers, that means new one-stop options to secondary and tertiary markets that might otherwise require two connections when departing from New England. Cities in Texas, the Great Plains or the Mountain West may become more accessible through an MHT–BNA–final destination itinerary, all on a single airline and typically under a single ticket. This can streamline checked baggage handling and make schedule changes easier to manage.

The timing of the flights, spaced across several days of the week, is expected to be coordinated with major connection banks in Nashville, improving the odds of acceptable layover times for a variety of onward journeys. While exact schedules are subject to adjustment closer to launch, the pattern suggests that Southwest is treating Manchester not only as an origin-and-destination market, but also as a feeder city into its broader Nashville-centered network.

Impact on Competing Airports and Regional Travel Habits

The Manchester to Nashville service will not operate in a vacuum. New England travelers have long weighed the trade-offs between using closer, smaller airports and driving farther to reach major hubs such as Boston Logan. The new nonstop raises the stakes in that calculation by giving Manchester a headline route to a destination that has broad appeal, particularly to younger leisure travelers and groups planning milestone trips such as bachelor and bachelorette weekends.

Some passengers who once defaulted to Boston for nonstops to major Southern and Midwestern cities may now reconsider their habits if they live north of the Massachusetts state line. For them, avoiding congested roadways and larger terminal crowds can be as valuable as shaving minutes off a flight. Manchester’s parking availability, shorter security lines and smaller footprint may become stronger selling points when paired with a marquee route like Nashville.

Other airlines serving Manchester, including legacy carriers that funnel passengers through their respective hubs, may feel competitive pressure as trip planners compare total journey times and costs for leisure routes. If the Nashville nonstop proves popular, it could serve as a proof of concept for additional point-to-point routes from Manchester on either Southwest or rival carriers, further shifting the regional air service balance.

Fares, Booking Options and Planning Ahead

With the announcement still fresh, introductory one-way fares advertised by Southwest have begun appearing for Manchester to Nashville travel dates in 2026. While prices remain subject to change and availability, the early listings indicate that the airline is positioning the route competitively in line with its broader network. Travelers considering the new service are being encouraged by airport officials and travel agents alike to book early if they have specific dates in mind, particularly around peak event weekends in Nashville.

Because the flights will not operate every day of the week, flexibility could be key to securing lower fares or preferred departure times. Travelers may find that shifting plans by one day to match the Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday service pattern yields better options. For those connecting beyond Nashville, building in a reasonable cushion for layovers can help mitigate the impact of any schedule adjustments as the airline fine-tunes operations closer to the October 2026 start date.

Frequent travelers already loyal to Southwest may see added value in the new route when factoring in loyalty points, two free checked bags and the carrier’s no-change-fee policy. These elements, combined with nonstop convenience, could make the Manchester to Nashville flight especially attractive for families and groups coordinating multi-person itineraries.

What This Means for Manchester and Nashville in the Longer Term

The launch of nonstop service between Manchester and Nashville is part of a broader story about how mid-sized airports and fast-growing cities are realigning air service in the post-pandemic era. For Manchester, the route is a tangible marker of recovery and ambition, highlighting the airport’s role as a gateway not just for New Hampshire residents, but also for travelers from northern Massachusetts and parts of Maine and Vermont.

For Nashville, the Manchester addition underscores its expanding reach into new feeder markets across the country. As the city adds events, hotels and cultural draws, airlines are continually reassessing which regions are likely to produce steady visitor demand. Tapping New England via a direct connection to Manchester helps diversify Nashville’s inbound traffic and may encourage further service from other airports in the region if the route performs well.

In the coming months, attention will turn to how quickly travelers respond. Early booking trends, load factors in the first weeks of operation and feedback from both leisure and business passengers will help determine whether the Manchester to Nashville route becomes a seasonal favorite, a year-round staple or a springboard to even more connectivity between New England and the American South. For now, what is clear is that travelers who have been waiting for a simpler way to get from the Granite State to Music City no longer need to plan around multiple connections: a nonstop option is finally on the way, and it is poised to change the way they map their future trips.