News Stories

The action item of the day is Pack Your Bags. The following new nonstop flights are arriving at CLT: American Airlines Aug. 10 – Quebec City, Canada (seasonal through Nov. 2) Dec. 7 – St. Vincent and Grenadines (Saturday only service)

Destination CLT, the Airport’s $4 billion capital investment program, is setting a high bar with expansion and renovation projects elevating the passenger experience.

For the second consecutive year, Charlotte Douglas International Airport is the most financially efficient North American airport with more than 40 million passengers, according to a top academic research organization in the air transportation sector. CLT Chief Financial Officer Michael Hill accepted the award July 3 at the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) World Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport hosted send-off celebrations for the USA Women’s Field Hockey and Taekwondo teams as they began their journey to the Paris Olympic Games.

The way many travelers enter Charlotte Douglas International Airport has become safer and more efficient. The change also will keep vehicle traffic flowing in front of the terminal. Starting today (July 31), customers walking between the terminal lobby and the Hourly Deck, or the Rental Car Facility will no longer have to cross eight lanes of traffic. Pedestrians will use either the newly constructed skybridges or the underground walkways.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is preparing for the busiest summer travel season ever. After surpassing the local passenger record during spring break, enthusiasm for exploring shows no signs of slowing down. Summer travel is expected to rise 14% higher than last year and jump 24% over 2019.

CLT visited the dark side for the terminal’s 42nd birthday on May 2, welcoming Star Wars characters to help celebrate. The Airport’s current terminal opened on May 2, 1982. Since the anniversary was close to Star Wars Day on May 4, the two events were combined to create an out of this world birthday. Darth Vader, two stormtroopers, along with an imperial officer and Grand Admiral Thrawn were greeted with comments such as “No way, this can’t be real” and “You have got to be kidding” as the Empire took over CLT for 90 minutes.

Forty-four families boarded a flight to nowhere at CLT on April 13 that turned into a trip of a lifetime. It was part of Wings for All, an annual event hosted by CLT, Delta Air Lines and The Arc. The program gives people who have intellectual disabilities the opportunity to become familiar with the unique process of air travel without the real-life stress that sometimes goes along with it.

The countdown has begun. The Sullenberger Aviation Museum, formerly Carolinas Aviation Museum, is opening June 1. Tickets for opening day are already sold out but are available for other days during the operating hours of 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.

CLT remains seventh worldwide and nationwide for arrivals and departures, according to Airports Council International (ACI) 2023 preliminary rankings that were released in early April. Charlotte Douglas lands ninth nationwide and 22nd worldwide for passenger traffic. The rankings come on the heels of a record-breaking year as CLT surpassed its all-time passenger record. Charlotte welcomed 53.4 million passengers in 2023, a 12% jump from 47.8 million passengers in 2022 and 6.5% above the previous record of 50.2 million passengers in 2019.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is one of the busiest airports in the world. It is home to the second largest hub for the world’s largest airline, American Airlines. With an average of 1,400 arrivals and departures each day, CLT is more airport than a city of Charlotte’s size needs. So, how did CLT become the major hub it is today?