Asheville Regional Airport is a Class C airport near the town of Fletcher, North Carolina, south of downtown Asheville. It is owned by the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority. In 2023 it served an all-time record number of passengers for the airport, 2,246,411, an increase of 22.2% over 2022.
The airport opened initially with a 6500-foot runway in 1961, replacing the former airport at .
Asheville is a focus city for Allegiant Air, which bases Airbus A320 family aircraft and crew at the airport.
History
Original airport
Asheville & Henderson Airport was opened in 1943 and initially operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1948, Capital Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Piedmont Airlines served the former Asheville airport, all with Douglas DC-3s. Capital flew nonstop to Charlotte and Knoxville; Delta flew nonstop to Greenville, SC, and Knoxville; The terminal building opened on June 7, 1961. By February 1985, Piedmont was the only remaining jet airline at Asheville, with Boeing 727-200 and Fokker F28 Fellowship nonstops from Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte and Roanoke and one-stop 727s from Denver, Miami and New York LaGuardia Airport, plus one-stop F28s from New York Newark Airport according to the Official Airline Guide. These flights ended in 1995 when American closed both hubs.
A Concorde supersonic transport (SST) visited AVL during a 1987 promotional tour and was snowed in overnight. Chartered Boeing 747s (operated by United Airlines) have visited, as has an Airbus A340 during the visit of Charles, Prince of Wales, to the nearby Biltmore Estate in 1996.
thumb|Terminal waiting area
The April 1995 OAG listed six airlines at Asheville: American Eagle, Delta, Delta Connection (operated by both Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) and Comair), USAir (which had merged with Piedmont in 1989) and USAir Express. however, Delta currently operates mainline Boeing 717-200 service nonstop to its Atlanta hub.
In 1996, Midway Airlines briefly flew to its hub at Raleigh-Durham via Midway Connection partner Corporate Airlines Jetstream 31s.
In April 2010, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama flew to Asheville aboard a Boeing C-32 for a weekend getaway. In October 2011, President Obama landed in Asheville in the larger Boeing VC-25 to kick off his North Carolina and Virginia bus tour promoting his jobs bill. He gave a speech at the airport, and cited potential enhancements at the airport as part of the jobs push. President Obama returned to Asheville on February 13, 2013, on the same aircraft for a brief visit and speech at a nearby manufacturing facility.
In 2012, Ashville began a major airport improvement project, which started with bringing the runway up to FAA standards. In December 2015, a temporary runway was opened west of the existing runway (16/34). The new runway entered service on November 5, 2020.
2023 expansion
thumb|Terminal expansion construction with the original 1960s era ATC tower in the background
In 2023, the airport began work on a multi-phase renovation and expansion of the terminal building. Once the construction work is finished the terminal will be 150% larger than the current space with 12 rather than seven gates. It will be two-story rather than single story when complete. Construction on the new $55 million, air traffic control tower began in 2023 and is scheduled for completion in 2025. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2026. 175 million dollars in bonds was approved by the state treasurer for the project. The total cost of the project has been cited as $400 million. Jet bridges will be added as part of the project as currently manual ramps are pushed up to the planes during the renovation.
Facilities
thumb|An [[Allegiant Air MD-83 and Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 at Asheville]]
Asheville Regional Airport covers and has one asphalt runway measuring .
The terminal building opened on June 7, 1961. In 2009, $17.8 million of improvements were completed, including a guest services center, an additional baggage carousel, rental car desks, offices and security enhancements. In November 2017, a new 1,300-space parking deck opened in front of the airport terminal.
The airport began working on another expansion in 2023. Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Las Vegas, Newark, Orlando, Orlando/Sanford, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Punta Gorda (FL), Sarasota, West Palm Beach Chicago–Midway, Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Houston-Hobby
| | Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York–LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Washington–National <br /> Seasonal: Miami
| Delta Air Lines | Atlanta <br/>Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul|
| | Atlanta, New York–LaGuardia <br />Seasonal: Austin (begins June 13, 2026), Boston, Minneapolis/St. Paul Denver,|
Statistics
Annual traffic
{| class="wikitable"
|+ AVL Airport Annual Traffic 2009–Present
!Year
!Passengers
!% Change
!Year
!Passengers
!% Change
|-
|2009||579,443||—||2019||1,616,762||42.5%
|-
|2010||735,760||27.0%||2020||704,972||56.4%
|-
|2011||721,677||1.9%||2021||1,428,266||102.6%
|-
|2012||633,848||12.2%||2022||1,838,793||28.7%
|-
|2013||678,023||7.0%||2023||2,246,411||22.2%
|-
|2014||756,425||11.6%||2024||2,174,125||3.2%
|-
|2015||787,135||4.0%||2025||2,240,877||3.1%
|-
|2016||826,648||5.0%||2026||||
|-
|2017||956,634||15.7%||2027||||
|-
|2018||1,134,568||18.6%||2028||
|}
Carrier shares
{| class="wikitable"
|+Airline Market Shares <br/>(June 2024 – May 2025)
!Rank
!Airline
!Passengers
!Market Share
|-
|1
|Allegiant
|877,000
|41.79%
|-
|2
|Delta
|323,000
|15.39%
|-
|3
|PSA
|176,000
|8.41%
|-
|4
|Envoy
|164,000
|7.82%
|-
|5
|Endeavor
|127,000
|6.05%
|-
|
|Other Airlines
|431,000
|20.54%
|}
Top destinations
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" style="font-size:95%; width:align=;"
|+ Busiest domestic routes from AVL (June 2024 – May 2025)
On October 27, 2004, a Beechcraft Duke crashed about 0.8 of a mile off the departure end of Runway 34 after an apparent right engine failure, killing all four people on board.
On May 4, 2007, a 1977 Cessna 182 en route to Asheville Regional Airport crashed near the airport, killing three Georgia men. Initial reports falsely said that rapper Jay-Z was on board.
On October 6, 2017, a terrorist deposited a bag containing an improvised explosive device near the entrance to the Asheville Regional Airport terminal. The bomb was set to explode the following morning at 6:00 AM but was defused after being detected by bomb-sniffing dogs. The terrorist, Michael Christopher Estes, was arrested and faced two federal charges. Estes pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of an explosive in an airport on January 12, 2018; the other charge was dismissed.
On December 27, 2019, a small plane crashed in the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center parking lot adjacent to the airport shortly after takeoff. All five people on board survived with injuries and escaped before the plane exploded.
On December 14, 2023, a Diamond DA-40 NG crash landed on Interstate 26 after declaring an emergency due to a total loss of engine power. 2 people were onboard the plane, a student pilot and their instructor. Both escaped the plane before it exploded and was engulfed in flames.
See also
- List of airports in North Carolina
References
External links
- at North Carolina DOT airport guide