Departure
91%
vs 95% ▼ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Asheville Regional Airport (KAVL) is a Class C airport serving Asheville, North Carolina, situated near the town of Fletcher some nine miles south of the city centre. A single long, ILS-equipped runway threads through the mountainous terrain of western North Carolina, and the field has been Asheville's primary gateway since 1961.
Asheville Regional Airport lies near Fletcher, North Carolina, about nine miles south of downtown Asheville, and is owned and operated by the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority. It is a Class C, air traffic controlled field handling airline, air taxi, general aviation and military traffic, and serves as a focus city base for Allegiant Air, which stations Airbus A320-family aircraft and crew there. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting mix of a single long instrument runway set among the mountains of western North Carolina, together with a history that includes wartime origins, jet airline service, and even a Concorde visit.
AVL sits within Class C airspace, controlled by its own tower and approach/departure service. The airport is located near Fletcher, North Carolina, roughly nine miles south of downtown Asheville. Pilots should note frequent helicopter operations in and out of Mission Hospital near downtown Asheville, and that Hendersonville airport lies near the final approach for runway 35, about nine miles south of AVL.
The airport has one physical runway, 17/35, a hard-surfaced strip 7,011 feet long that is lit and equipped with an ILS at both ends.
Radio services at AVL include Approach/Departure on 124.65 MHz, ATIS on 120.2 MHz, CTAF and Tower on 121.1 MHz, Ground on 121.9 MHz, and UNICOM on 122.95 MHz. Both ends of runway 17/35 are served by an ILS.
AVL is a controlled Class C field, so arriving and departing traffic should expect to work with Approach/Departure and Tower rather than fly a self-announced circuit. Pilots should be alert for helicopter traffic operating near Mission Hospital in downtown Asheville and should be aware that Hendersonville airport lies close to the final approach path for runway 35, about nine miles to the south.
Downtown Asheville lies roughly nine miles north of the airport and is a useful general reference for orientation. To the south, Hendersonville airport sits near the extended final approach for runway 35. Mission Hospital, in downtown Asheville, is a notable point to be aware of owing to frequent helicopter movements in its vicinity.
The site's aviation history begins with the Asheville & Henderson Airport, which opened in 1943 under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and, by 1948, hosted Capital Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Piedmont Airlines flying Douglas DC-3s. In 1959 Asheville's city council purchased land, part of it in neighbouring Henderson County, for a new airport, and the North Carolina General Assembly realigned the Buncombe-Henderson county boundary so the site could be annexed by Asheville. The present airport opened in January 1961, with its terminal building following on 7 June 1961. Over the following decades the field saw service from Capital Airlines' Vickers Viscounts, United Airlines (after absorbing Capital), Delta's Douglas DC-7s and DC-9s, and Piedmont Airlines, which introduced Boeing 727-100s in 1967. American Eagle served Asheville from Nashville and Raleigh-Durham between 1986 and 1995. In 1987 a Concorde visited the airport during a promotional tour and was snowed in overnight, and in 1996 an Airbus A340 called during a visit by the Prince of Wales to the nearby Biltmore Estate. The airport also received presidential visits, with Barack Obama arriving aboard a Boeing C-32 in April 2010 and a Boeing VC-25 in October 2011.
Asheville Regional Airport remains an active Class C, tower-controlled field handling scheduled airline, air taxi, general aviation and military traffic. It serves as a focus city base for Allegiant Air, which keeps Airbus A320-family aircraft and crews there. The airport is currently undergoing the AVL Forward terminal redevelopment programme.
