Nashville International Airport (BNA) is no stranger to long-haul widebody services from Europe, but the aircraft type that touched down at the airport this week was one it rarely sees. An Iberia Airbus A350-900 landed in Nashville on Friday afternoon, having flown directly from Santiago de Compostela Airport (SCQ) in Spain, marking one of the most unusual city pairings in the US.

The reason behind the rare visit is the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as Iberia’s flagship aircraft — also sporting a special World Cup livery — was transporting Spain’s national football team ahead of the tournament’s launch next week. The flight took almost eight-and-a-half hours before the A350 was flown directly back to Iberia’s Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) hub.

A350 In Nashville: An Unusual Visitor

Credit: Iberia

The flight briefly became the most-tracked flight on tracking site Flightradar24, with the website noting it as one of the more interesting connections it had ever seen. The aircraft — an eight-year-old A350-900 (registration: EC-MYX) operating as Iberia flight IB1412 — was scheduled to depart from Santiago de Compostela at 10:00 AM local time on Friday, June 5, but ended up departing over 90 minutes late, eventually taking off at 11:42 AM. Following an eight-hour and 28-minute flight, the A350 landed safely in Nashville at 1:10 PM local time.

What made this one-off charter flight so unusual was that it paired two cities that would otherwise never see direct service. Santiago de Compostela is a small-to-medium-sized city in Galicia, northwestern Spain, and its airport hosts a limited range of domestic and regional European routes. However, it has almost no long-haul flights except a seasonal summer service to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) flown by United Airlines with its Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet. BNA said in a social media post:

““Despega un equipo. Vuela un país” — “A team takes off. A country flies.” We were thrilled to welcome the Spain National Football Team to BNA® as they embark on their World Cup journey! They arrived in style in their special livery — an Iberia A350-900.”

Long-Haul Service At Nashville

Credit: Flightradar24

While Nashville benefits from a variety of international routes to Canada, Central America and the Caribbean, for the most part, it is a domestic airport. Its long-haul offerings are limited — transatlantic connections include year-round service from British Airways (London Heathrow) and Aer Lingus (Dublin), as well as seasonal flights from Icelandair (Reykjavík), but there are zero transpacific flights to Asia or beyond.

Spanish carrier Iberia does not operate any scheduled services to Nashville, and there are no direct flights between Spain and Nashville either. Additionally, the airport does not have any scheduled Airbus A350 services, with British Airways using its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet to serve the city from London.

Nashville has been one of the fastest-growing airports in the US in recent years, particularly on the international side, although much of its international traffic remains regional. Most aircraft seen at the airport are narrowbody jets, while widebody appearances come in the form of British Airways’ 787s, which fly to Nashville on a daily basis.

Iberia’s New Route Ahead Of The World Cup

Credit: Shutterstock

Spain’s Iberia recently launched a brand-new route from Madrid to Monterrey (MTY), completing its inaugural flight on June 2. This will be a thrice-weekly service (Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays) onboard the airline’s Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which can seat up to 288 passengers across two cabin classes.

Mexico is one of the host nations of the upcoming World Cup 2026, and Monterrey is one of three host cities, alongside Mexico City and Guadalajara. Iberia will now be offering an impressive 800,000 total seats to Mexico in 2026, the vast majority going to Mexico City.

Simple Flying previously explored several of the fascinating one-off World Cup flights taking place ahead of the tournament. For example, British carrier Virgin Atlantic flew one of its A350s on a similarly unusual mission, flying to Palm Beach (PBI) on June 1 with the England national team onboard.