Asheville Regional Airport Faces Possible Closure Amid TSA Staffing Crisis

Asheville Regional Airport, which handled 2.24 million passengers last year and just finished its second-busiest year in recorded history, has been identified as one of the airports potentially facing closure as a 30-day Department of Homeland Security funding shutdown drains the TSA workforce of officers working without pay.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy named smaller regional airports as closure candidates during a March 19 CNBC interview, and the Transportation Secretary's office confirmed Asheville's airport appeared on the list of facilities at risk. "As we get into next week and they are about to miss another payment, this is going to look like child's play, what's happening right now," Duffy said. "You're going to see small airports, I believe, shut down. You're going to see extensive lines."

AVL remained open as of March 19, but the conditions driving the warning are worsening. TSA officers have worked without a paycheck since the shutdown began; agents missed their first full paycheck as the shutdown crossed the 30-day mark, and Reuters reported they are set to miss another on March 27. Call-out rates and resignations among TSA personnel have been rising in response, a trend Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl warned will push security checkpoint backlogs further in the wrong direction before any improvement arrives. Stahl said smaller airports could experience temporary pauses in operations as employee callout rates continue climbing.

The crisis traces back to a congressional impasse over immigration enforcement reforms that collapsed DHS funding. Negotiations to resolve the standoff failed again earlier this week, leaving Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania as the only lawmaker to cross party lines and vote to advance a resolution, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

For AVL, the timing is particularly damaging. The airport is entering one of the busiest travel stretches of the year, with spring break demand pushing passenger volumes higher precisely as the security workforce thins. Missed flights and extended checkpoint wait times have already become what the Citizen-Times described as a temporary norm at airports nationally.

Airport officials in Asheville declined to speak on camera when WLOS contacted them March 19 and instead released a written statement, the contents of which were not made public in full.

Carol Birkner, co-owner of Asheville's High Park Travel Agency, urged local travelers to take protective steps now. Buy travel insurance and book refundable flights and hotels, Birkner told WLOS. For anyone with a cruise departure on the horizon, she recommended arriving at the embarkation port a full day early. "Most travel insurances will cover things like delays, missed planes, long line made you miss your plane," Birkner said.

With another missed TSA paycheck five days away and no legislative resolution in sight, the window for AVL to avoid operational disruptions is narrowing fast.