Asheville Regional Airport

Asheville Regional Airport
Gates 5, 6 and 7 in the main terminal.
IATA: AVL – ICAO: KAVL – FAA LID: AVL
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		City of Asheville
Operator		Asheville Regional Airport Authority
Serves		Asheville, North Carolina
Elevation AMSL		2,165 ft / 660 m
Coordinates		35°26′10″N 082°32′30″W / 35.43611°N 82.54167°W / 35.43611; -82.54167
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
16/34	8,001	2,439	Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Aircraft operations			67,340
Based aircraft			118
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Asheville Regional Airport (IATA: AVL, ICAO: KAVL, FAA LID: AVL) is a Class C airport near Interstate 40 and Interstate 26 near the town of Fletcher, 9 miles (14 km) south of the city of Asheville, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is owned by the city of Asheville.^[1] In 2010 it served a total of 735,760 passengers, an increase of 27% over 2009.

Facilities and aircraft

Asheville Regional Airport covers an area of 900 acres (360 ha) and has one runway designated 16/34 with a 8,001 x 150 ft (2,439 x 46 m) asphalt surface.^[1]

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2010, the airport had 67,340 aircraft operations, an average of 184 per day: 62% general aviation, 29% air taxi, 2% scheduled commercial and 7% military. In 2010, there were 124 aircraft based at this airport: 65% single-engine, 23% multi-engine, 8% jet and 5% helicopter.^[1]

The airport currently sees the following models of aircraft on a regular basis:

• Canadair Regional Jet (50 or 70 passengers)
• De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Turboprop (37 or 50 passengers)
• Embraer ERJ (37 or 50 passengers)
• Boeing MD-80 (150 passengers)
• Various charter aircraft

A Concorde visited AVL during a 1987 promotional tour and was snowed-in overnight. Chartered Boeing 747s (United Airlines) have also visited, as has an Airbus A340 during the visit of Charles, Prince of Wales, to the nearby Biltmore Estate in 1996. AVL's 8,001-foot (2,439 m) runway allows for the operation of almost any aircraft type. In April 2010, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama landed in Asheville aboard Air Force One (Boeing C-32) for a weekend getaway.

In October 2011, President Obama landed in Asheville aboard the larger (Boeing VC-25) Air Force One to kick off his North Carolina and Virginia bus tour to promote his Jobs Bill and gave a speech at the airport, and made a reference in his speech that cited potential enhancements at the airport as part of the jobs push.^[2]

Airlines and destinations

Top destinations

Top ten busiest domestic routes out of AVL
(July 2010 – June 2011)^[3]

Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Atlanta, GA	125,000	Delta
2	Charlotte, NC	118,000	US Airways
3	Chicago-O’Hare, IL	28,000	United
4	Detroit, MI	22,000	Delta
5	Orlando, FL	18,000	AirTran
6	New York-LaGuardia, NY	14,000	Delta, US Airways
7	Houston-Intercontinental, TX	13,000	Continental
8	Newark, NJ	12,000	Continental
9	Tampa, FL	7,000	AirTran
10	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	5,000	American

Incidents

On July 19, 1967, Piedmont Airlines Flight 22, a Boeing 727, collided in mid-air with a Cessna 310 just south of the airport in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The collision happened just moments after the 727 took off from the Asheville Airport. All 82 people on both planes were killed.

On March 14, 2003, a Cessna 177 Cardinal crashed into Old Fort Mountain after taking off from the airport. It killed author Amanda Davis, who was on a book tour promoting her first novel Wonder When You'll Miss Me (ISBN 0-688-16781-0), and her parents.

On October 27, 2004, a Beechcraft Duke crashed approximately 0.8 of a mile off the departure end of Runway 34 after an apparent right engine failure, killing all 4 people on board.

On May 4, 2007, a 1977 Cessna 182 en route to Asheville Regional Airport crashed near the airport, killing three Georgia men. Initial reports said that rapper Jay-Z was on-board. These reports were false, however.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} FAA Airport Master Record for AVL (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2008-04-10
2. ^ http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20111018/NEWS01/310180038/Obama-pushes-jobs-bill-Asheville?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFrontpage%7Cs
3. ^ http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=AVL&Airport_Name=Asheville,%20NC:%20Asheville%20Regional&carrier=FACTS
4. ^ http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770504024

ATL05FA013 NTSB report 27 October, 2004

External links

• Asheville Regional Airport, official web site
• Asheville Regional AirportPDF (324 KiB) at NCDOT web site
• Coordinates: 35°26′10″N 82°32′30″W / 35.4362°N 82.5418°W / 35.4362; -82.5418
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 31 May 2012
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KAVL
  • ASN accident history for AVL
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KAVL
  • FAA current AVL delay information
• Aviation Safety Net ASN Aircraft Accident 27-OCT-2004