Asheville Regional Airport is getting closer to opening the doors of its new terminal.
Lew Bleiweis, president and CEO of the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority, said parts of the new North Concourse will open to the public next month. The terminal is part of the $400 million AVL Forward expansion project, which is divided into three phases.
During a presentation at last week’s City Council meeting, Bleiweis said half of the new building will open between June and July.
The North Concourse will include 7 gates, a new ticket lobby and a TSA checkpoint. It will also include restaurants such as Jimmy John’s sandwich shop and Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and retail store The Goods@AVL.
Last year, more than 2.1 million passengers traveled through AVL, according to the airport authority’s annual report. The figure represents the second year in a row that the airport surpassed 2 million passengers – despite a sharp dip after Hurricane Helene disrupted travel during the fourth quarter of the year.
As tourism to Asheville has boomed, the airport has seen record passenger numbers in 8 of the last 10 years, Bleiweis told the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority in a presentation last month. From 2013 to 2023, the airport nearly tripled its number of unique destinations, from 10 to 27.
The airport also opened a new, 100-space South Shuttle Parking Lot in June at a cost of about $10 million.
The new South Concourse — featuring a grand lobby and second-level concession plaza — is expected to open in the middle of 2027.
