The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is bringing air traffic controllers at North Carolina's Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) into the 21st century with the opening of a new air traffic control tower.
The 121-foot tower replaces the old facility built back in 1961 and provides controllers with a modern workspace as air traffic demand surges at the western North Carolina travel hub.
According to the FAA, air carrier operations at AVL have increased by more than 300 percent over the last 10 years, making it the third-busiest airport in the state behind Charlotte Douglas and Raleigh-Durham.
The FAA provided $31.7 million through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to build the new tower and awarded $10 million through IIJA to expand and modernize AVL's terminal, increasing gate capacity from five to 12.
"Air traffic controllers need modern infrastructure and technology to keep up with growing demand," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement.
"In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024, our controllers managed a dramatic increase in traffic to support recovery efforts," he added. "They deserve a modern facility and 21st-century tools to continue providing safe and efficient air traffic services to western North Carolina."
The new tower will receive key equipment upgrades, which will be installed by the end of 2028, including state-of-the-art radars, modern voice switches replacing analog systems from the 1990s and Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI), enabling air traffic controllers to track aircraft and vehicles in real-time in any weather condition.
The FAA has also improved ATC training efficiency at AVL, installing a new Tower Simulation System (TSS) that allows controllers to train in a controlled environment by projecting airport-specific operations and scenarios.
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