ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Asheville Regional Airport released new statistics for the 2023 travel season that show an increase of 22% year-over-year for the number of passengers flying in and out.
Airport staff attribute the ongoing growth to three factors — more non-stop flights, local travelers using AVL and Asheville’s sustained national popularity. A record 2,246,411 passengers in 2023 flew in and out of the airport.
“All our flights are full,” said Tina Kinsey, spokeswoman for Asheville Regional Airport.
“I’ve heard the outdoor scene is great,” said Kaite Jaime, who flew in Thursday from Des Moines.
It’s Jaime’s first time in Asheville.
“There’s a group of us eight girls getting together, and Asheville was the spot,” Jaime said.
‘REALLY GREAT THINGS COMING’ ASHEVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT GEARS UP FOR ANOTHER BUSY YEAR
Last November, nearly 200,000 passengers flew in and out, which amounted to a 27.9% jump from 2022 numbers of 156,000.
The airport has 27 non-stops with the most popular routes to and from Florida. The Fort Lauderdale flight is the most popular, according to airport officials.
ASHEVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT UNVEILS MASTER PLAN: NEW TERMINAL, ROUNDABOUT, PARKING SOLUTIONS
On the airport’s website, there’s a new real-time link for people who want to see how full parking lots are and which ones have spaces. Green means there are spaces, red means the particular lot is full. (embed)
“Travelers, when they get to the airport, they can look there and make plans where they might want to park,” Kinsey said.
The airport has major construction going on with the first phase scheduled to be done in 2025.