Passengers arriving at Asheville Regional Airport will notice some changes starting Friday, April 17: The airport is opening a new baggage claim area.
The move is the latest step in the airport’s $400 million expansion.
Passengers will now pick up their checked bags at two new baggage carousels located just south of the old baggage claim area.
The up-to-date facility features new restrooms and a Guest Services center. It’s accessible by a covered outdoor walkway while the old baggage claim is being demolished.
Lew Bleiweis, the airport’s president and CEO, said the new facility is a crucial part of the airport’s expansion.
“The bag claims that we have are much more efficient, faster and larger,” Bleiweis said Thursday as he showed reporters the new facility. “As we have more and larger airplanes coming in with our passengers, we needed to make sure that we had the capacity to handle it on the bag claim side.”
Two new carousels are currently in operation, with a third one opening in summer 2027.
Over the past year, the airport has opened a new ticket lobby, TSA security checkpoint and 136,000-square-foot North Concourse. The airport saw its second-busiest year in 2025, with a total of 2,240,877 passengers traveling through the facility.
With travel to the region rebounding after Hurricane Helene, the airport has also been working to create more parking spots.
Airport spokesperson Angi Daus said an expansion of the airport’s shuttle lot is expected to create more spots in the summer and fall. Another parking area was also recently created near the Sheetz gas station that is being built across the street on Airport Road.
“Most of it is open right now, and that was a couple hundred extra spots, so that's great,” Daus said.
More milestones are expected in the coming months, Daus said, including the opening of a new rental car area and the completion of a new air traffic control tower.
The airport’s expansion is expected to be completed in late 2027.
