Charlotte Douglas International Airport is an international airport serving Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, located roughly west of the city's central business district. Charlotte Douglas is the primary airport for commercial and military use in the Charlotte metropolitan area. Operated by the City of Charlotte's aviation department, the airport covers 5,558 acres (2,249 ha) of land. FAA data effective January 22, 2026.
Established in 1935 as Charlotte Municipal Airport, the airport was later renamed as Douglas Municipal Airport for Ben Elbert Douglas Sr., who was the mayor of Charlotte when the airport was first built. In 1982, the airport was renamed again, this time to its current Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
In 2019, CLT was the 11th-busiest airport in the United States in terms of passenger traffic, having processed over 50 million passengers, and fifth-busiest in terms of aircraft operations, ranking sixth globally. In 2021, CLT grew to the sixth busiest airport in the United States. Charlotte is a fortress hub for American Airlines, which operates the majority of the airport's flights. The airport has three operating runways and one passenger terminal, with 124 gates across five concourses. A commercial-civil-military facility, the airport is home to the Charlotte Air National Guard base and its host unit, the 145th Airlift Wing of the North Carolina Air National Guard.
History Early years The city received Works Progress Administration funding to establish Charlotte's first municipal airport; the airport was, at the time, the largest single WPA project in the United States, incorporating a terminal, hangar, beacon tower and three runways.
In 1936, Charlotte Municipal Airport opened, operated by the City of Charlotte; Eastern Air Lines began scheduled passenger service in 1937. The original passenger terminal still exists and is used for offices and training rooms by various aviation-related organizations.
The United States Army Air Forces took control of the airport and established Charlotte Air Base in early 1941, which was renamed Morris Field soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The US military invested more than $5 million in airfield improvements by the time the facility was returned to the City of Charlotte in 1946. The airfield was used by the Third Air Force for antisubmarine patrols and training.
1950 to mid-1960s: into the jet age In 1954, a passenger terminal opened and the airport was renamed Douglas Municipal Airport in honor of former Charlotte Mayor Ben Elbert Douglas Sr., who had overseen the airport's opening 20 years earlier. The terminal had two floors; passenger operations were confined to the ground floor. Ticketing and baggage claim were on each side of an open space that bisected the building north to south, and a mezzanine restaurant and airline offices overlooked this open space. Delta Air Lines began scheduled passenger service in 1956. The OAG for April 1957 shows 57 weekday departures on Eastern, seven on Piedmont, six on Capital, four on Delta and two on Southern. Nonstop flights did not reach beyond Newark, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Louisville, Birmingham, and Jacksonville.
Scheduled jet flights (Eastern Air Lines Boeing 720s) began in early 1962.Eastern's 720s are not in the QR OAG for January 15, 1962, and are in the one for February 1. Eastern used the west pier, Piedmont and Delta the center pier, and United and Southern used the east pier.
Late 1960s to 1978: before deregulation A major renovation project in the late 1960s expanded the facility. Eastern opened a unit terminal in 1967, replacing the old west pier. This new facility had eight dedicated gates for Eastern, each with its own departure lounge, snack bar and separate baggage claim space. Eastern passengers continued to check in at the main terminal.
In 1969, a new enclosed concourse was built parallel to the center pier. When it was completed, Piedmont, Eastern, and Delta moved in and the old center pier was demolished. The new concourse had separate departure lounges, restrooms and an enlarged baggage claim area. United's flights continued to use the east pier, with an enclosed holding room added for waiting passengers. Eastern added two more gates to the end of its west concourse in 1973.
In April 1975, the airport had 97 weekday departures to 32 destinations on seven airlines.
1978 to 1989: becoming a hub After airline deregulation, passenger numbers at the terminal nearly doubled between 1978 and 1980, and a new parallel runway and control tower opened in 1979. The airport's master plan called for a new terminal across the runway from the existing site, with ground broken in 1979. At the time, the airport had only two concourses: one used exclusively by Eastern, and one used by other carriers, including United, Delta, Piedmont, and several commuter airlines.
In 1979, Piedmont Airlines chose Charlotte as the hub for its expanding network. A new passenger terminal, designed by Odell Associates, opened in 1982, and the airport was renamed Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Concourses B and C were expanded in 1987 and 1984 respectively, while Concourse A was built in 1986 to handle future growth.
In 1987, Piedmont started non-stop 767 flights to London. In the mid-1980s, the old terminal site was converted to a cargo center, and the central concourse and Eastern unit terminal were removed to make way for more cargo buildings. The original main building still stands and is used for office space. The old control tower was removed in the late 1990s. In 1989 Piedmont merged with USAir; the new merged operations kept the USAir name.
1990 to 2013: the influence of US Airways
In 1990, a new international and commuter concourse (Concourse D) opened, and in 1991 further expansion of the central terminal building continued, reflective of USAir's dominating presence at the airport. A monumental bronze statue of Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (the namesake of the city), created by Raymond Kaskey, was placed in front of the main terminal.
In 1990, Lufthansa began Boeing 747-200 service to Charlotte, on a Frankfurt-Charlotte-Houston routing; however, this service was short-lived. In 1994, British Airways began service to London via a "global alliance" with USAir. This was later discontinued in 2002, as British Airways formed the Oneworld Alliance and USAir become a part of the Star Alliance (although USAir later joined Oneworld prior to merging with American). In 2003, Lufthansa restarted service to Charlotte, though now from Munich, utilizing their Airbus A340-300 fleet. Over time, this route has been flown by Airbus A340-600 and A330-300 aircraft, and is now regularly served by the Airbus A350-900.
In 1999, plans were announced for the construction of a regional carrier concourse (present-day Concourse E) and for the expansion of Concourses A and D. This expansion was designed by The Wilson Group and LS3P Associates Ltd. In 2002, the new 32-gate Concourse E opened. The airline closed its Concourse D US Airways Club location in 2002. In 2003, the main ticketing hall was expanded to the east, providing 13 additional ticketing counters and a new security checkpoint; Concourse D was expanded by an additional nine gates.
Following the 2005 acquisition of US Airways by America West Airlines in a reverse takeover, Charlotte remained the primary domestic hub for the airline. The majority of US Airways' international routes remained at the airline's second-largest hub, Philadelphia.
Between 2007 and 2015, the airport completed $1.5 billion worth of construction projects, part of which later became known as the "CLT 2015" plan. These projects included a new airport entrance roadway, new hourly parking decks with a centralized rental car facility, a regional intermodal cargo facility, an expansion of the east-side terminal lobby, new checked baggage handling systems, and additional space for concessions and shops.
Construction of the airport's fourth runway began in spring 2007. At long, the new "third parallel" allows three independent approaches for arrivals even from the south, potentially increasing capacity by a third. The new runway lies west of the three existing runways. The construction of the fourth runway required the relocation of parts of Wallace Neel Road (which had been the western boundary of the airport) to an alignment located farther to the west. Construction occurred in two phases. The first phase, which began in March 2007, included grading and drainage. The second phase included the paving and lighting of the runway. In August 2009, crews paved the last section.
With the merger of US Airways and American Airlines in 2013, Charlotte became the second-largest hub for the merged airline, after Dallas/Fort Worth.
2013–present: post-merger growth and Destination CLT
In 2015, airport officials formally announced the completion of the "CLT 2015" plan, and kicked off construction of the new Destination CLT airport development plan. Destination CLT represents a total $2.5 billion investment into the future growth of the airport.
Concourse A North, a nine-gate expansion of Concourse A, was completed in summer 2018. Air Canada, JetBlue, United, Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit moved their operations to Concourse A North upon its completion. A digital artwork titled "Interconnected," by Refik Anadol, is prominently featured on three massive display screens in Concourse A North. The artwork draws from the airport's data network of aircraft movements and turns the data into an always-changing visual artwork. The main -long screen is one of the largest digital artworks of its kind in the world.
In late 2019, the new terminal roadway was opened. The new roadway has sixteen lanes over two levels, with departures traffic using the elevated level and arrivals traffic utilizing the ground level. The eight lanes on each level are split into five outer lanes for personal vehicles, and three inner lanes for commercial and airport vehicles. Some components of the project, namely the skybridges from the hourly parking deck and rental car facility, the glass canopy over the roadway, and some lanes on the departure level will not be finished until the terminal lobby project is complete.
In November 2019, the East Terminal Expansion opened. The expansion added , primarily of passenger amenity space, across three levels. The main level of the expansion is "The Plaza", a food court. The Plaza's artistic centerpiece is a hanging artwork entitled "Loops" by Christian Moeller. "Loops" became a part of the project through a partnership between the airport and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Arts and Science Council. The upper level of the East Terminal Expansion includes a Centurion Lounge.
The airport announced that it had served 50.2 million passengers in 2019, a new record for the airport.
Destination CLT includes a $90 million terminal renovation project of Concourses A, B, C, D, and the Atrium. Aspects of the renovations include the replacement of carpet with terrazzo, upgraded lighting, remodeled bathrooms, and new seats with charging in every seat. Concourse B renovations wrapped up in 2019.