Original airport

Asheville & Henderson Airport was opened in 1943 and initially operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1948, Capital Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Piedmont Airlines served the former Asheville airport, all with Douglas DC-3s. Capital flew nonstop to Charlotte and Knoxville; Delta flew nonstop to Greenville, SC, and Knoxville; Piedmont flew nonstop to Tri-Cities, TN and Charlotte.

Replacement

In 1959, the Asheville City Council purchased property partially located in neighboring Henderson County for the development of the airport. The North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill realigning the boundaries of Buncombe and Henderson to include the proposed airport property entirely in Buncombe, allowing Asheville to annex the site. The new airport opened in January 1961. The terminal building opened on June 7, 1961.

In 1961, Capital Airlines flew Vickers Viscounts into the recently opened new airport with nonstop service to Atlanta, Tri-Cities, TN and Winston/Salem. Capital was acquired by and merged into United Airlines which in 1963 flew Viscounts and Douglas DC-6Bs nonstop to Atlanta, Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham and Washington D.C. National Airport. In 1966 Delta had one daily flight from Asheville, a Douglas DC-7 nonstop to Knoxville and direct to Louisville and Chicago O'Hare Airport. In 1966 Piedmont Fairchild F-27s and Martin 4-0-4s flew nonstop to Atlanta, Charlotte, Knoxville, Roanoke and Tri-Cities, TN.

Piedmont Airlines introduced Boeing 727-100s in 1967, a typical routing being Atlanta - Asheville - Winston/Salem - Roanoke - New York LaGuardia Airport. In 1969 United Boeing 737-200s flew nonstop to Atlanta and Raleigh/Durham while Delta McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s flew nonstop to Knoxville with same plane service to Louisville and Chicago O'Hare Airport.

The April 1975 Official Airline Guide listed Delta, Piedmont and United serving Asheville. By February 1985, Piedmont was the only remaining jet airline at Asheville, with Boeing 727-200 and Fokker F28 Fellowship nonstops from Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte and Roanoke and one-stop 727s from Denver, Miami and New York LaGuardia Airport, plus one-stop F28s from New York Newark Airport according to the Official Airline Guide.

American Eagle began serving AVL from Nashville in 1986 and Raleigh-Durham using BAe Jetstream 31s and Saab 340s in 1987. These flights ended in 1995 when American closed both hubs.

A Concorde supersonic transport (SST) visited AVL during a 1987 promotional tour and was snowed in overnight. Chartered Boeing 747s (operated by United Airlines) have visited, as has an Airbus A340 during the visit of Charles, Prince of Wales, to the nearby Biltmore Estate in 1996.

The April 1995 OAG listed six airlines at Asheville: American Eagle, Delta, Delta Connection (operated by both Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) and Comair), USAir (which had merged with Piedmont in 1989) and USAir Express. Delta and Delta Connection (ASA) had a total of eight nonstops a day from Atlanta, Delta on McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and Delta Connection on ATR 72s and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias. Delta Connection (operated by Comair) also had three EMB-120 Brasilias a day from Cincinnati, a Delta hub. USAir and USAir Express had a total of nine nonstops a day from the USAir hub in Charlotte, USAir with Boeing 737-300s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s and USAir Express with Short 360s. USAir Express also had three nonstop Jetstream 31s a day from Raleigh/Durham, some stopping in Greenville/Spartanburg. Delta ended mainline flights to AVL in December 1995, with ASA taking over with British Aerospace 146 regional jets; however, Delta currently operates mainline Boeing 717-200 service nonstop to its Atlanta hub.

In 1996, Midway Airlines briefly flew to its hub at Raleigh-Durham via Midway Connection partner Corporate Airlines Jetstream 31s.

In April 2010, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama flew to Asheville aboard a Boeing C-32 for a weekend getaway. In October 2011, President Obama landed in Asheville in the larger Boeing VC-25 to kick off his North Carolina and Virginia bus tour promoting his jobs bill. He gave a speech at the airport, and cited potential enhancements at the airport as part of the jobs push. President Obama returned to Asheville on February 13, 2013, on the same aircraft for a brief visit and speech at a nearby manufacturing facility.

In 2012, Asheville began a major airport improvement project, which started with bringing the runway up to FAA standards. In December 2015, a temporary runway was opened west of the existing runway (16/34). The new runway entered service on November 5, 2020.

2023 expansion

In 2023, the airport began work on a multi-phase renovation and expansion of the terminal building. Once the construction work is finished the terminal will be 150% larger than the current space with 12 rather than seven gates. It will be two-story rather than single story when complete. Construction on the new $55 million, 127-foot (39 m) air traffic control tower began in 2023 and was completed in summer 2026. 175 million dollars in bonds was approved by the state treasurer for the project.