Asheville Regional Airport Places Final Steel Beam in $400 Million Terminal Rebuild

The final steel beam was placed at Asheville Regional Airport's new terminal on October 23, 2026, completing the steel skeleton of a $400 million rebuilding project. The airport's president and chief executive, Lew Bleiweis, said passenger-facing work should finish by September 2027, according to Yahoo.

Ironworkers Top Out Asheville Terminal

A crew of ironworkers hoisted a yellow-painted beam covered with workers' signatures into place with a crane on the morning of October 23. A small cedar tree in a nursery pot stood on top of the swaying steel, an old builder's tradition for good luck.

"It's been a 10-year project so far, from planning to design, and it's pretty emotional to see the last major structural beam go up," Bleiweis told the Times-News as the beam was being hoisted.

Asheville Regional Airport is a Class C public airport in Fletcher, North Carolina, serving 2.24 million annual passengers with 26 nonstop destinations via five airlines. The Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority operates it, drawing revenue from parking, concessions and rental car services.

The section finished October 23 stands between the ticket lobby and the baggage claim, both completed since last summer. Passengers walk outside past the construction site through a long temporary breezeway tunnel to get from one to the other.

"The footprint is so tight on the property … which is why we have to do it in phases," Hensel Phelps operations manager John Baumeister told the Times-News. Hensel Phelps broke ground on a new corporate headquarters in Loveland, Colorado, on September 30, a four-story, 143,000-square-foot facility designed by Gensler, PR Newswire reported.

Asheville Airport Passenger Records

According to akta.pro company records, Asheville Regional Airport surpassed 2 million passengers annually for the first time in 2023 and recorded 2.24 million passengers in 2025, its second-highest year. The same records list the airport as the third-busiest in North Carolina and describe AVL Forward, its terminal modernization project, with Phase 2 construction underway.

Airport Construction Across The Sector

Flydubai said work on its 32,600-sq-m aircraft maintenance centre in Dubai South is nearing completion, with finalisation expected by year-end, TradingView reported on October 23. Clare County Council granted fast-track planning permission for Ryanair's €50m four-bay maintenance hangar at Shannon Airport, RTE.ie reported on October 22. Air India broke ground on a nine-acre MRO hangar at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, CNBCTV18 reported on October 22.

Asheville Airport Next Steps

The old control tower, built in 1961, is set to be demolished in the next phase of the project. The airport's new FAA control tower opened in August.