Asheville Regional Airport moves rental car counters indoors May 20

Passengers renting cars at Asheville Regional Airport will start being routed indoors on May 20, when all arriving travelers needing rental-car service are sent through a marked path from the North Concourse into the legacy terminal’s ticket lobby and on to new counters beside the baggage-claim area.

The change puts the airport’s rental-car operation into a more permanent indoor setup after months of construction-related workarounds. It is also the first day air traffic controllers will be working in the new tower, another sign that AVL Forward is advancing on more than one front at once.

AVL Forward is the airport’s four-year, $400 million terminal and air traffic control tower project. Asheville Regional says the buildout will expand the airport from 115,000 square feet and seven gates to 275,000 square feet and 12 gates, replacing a crowded arrival process with a larger terminal system built for continued growth.

The rental-car move fits into a steady sequence of openings. The new ticket lobby opened June 11, 2025. The new North Concourse and TSA security checkpoint opened June 25, 2025. A partial baggage-claim area opened April 17, 2026. By moving rental cars indoors now, the airport is stitching those pieces together so arriving passengers can deplane, retrieve checked bags and pick up a vehicle without backtracking through the terminal flow.

That matters in Buncombe County because Asheville Regional is one of the region’s main gateways for residents, business travelers and tourists headed into Western North Carolina. The airport reported 2,174,125 passengers in 2024, its second straight year above 2 million, even after storm-related disruptions. It said it served about 2.2 million passengers in 2025 as demand kept climbing.

The airport also says it has tripled nonstop destinations over the past decade, from 10 in 2013 to 27 in 2024 and 2025. In economic terms, AVL says it supports about 22,745 jobs, generates roughly $3.9 billion in economic impact and contributes more than $1 billion in personal income across Western North Carolina.

For now, the clearest sign of the airport’s next phase is a simple one: rental-car customers will no longer be funneled through a temporary outdoor-style setup. Starting May 20, they will follow the new indoor path, one more step in turning a long construction project into a working terminal.