Another Airport Construction Project Kicks Off at CLT as Lobby Project Hits Halfway Mark

Construction is starting on Charlotte Douglas International Airport’s latest expansion, a $231-million project in Concourse A.

And other construction projects are still well underway.

In fact, travelers will get a look at the additions to the airport lobby for the first time this summer, CLT officials told reporters Monday. That project is roughly halfway completed, airport chief operating officer Jack Christine said Monday.

More info: Take a look at inside CLT's $608-million lobby expansion

Parts of the $608-million lobby expansion will open in the summer, but is expected to be fully completed in 2025, Christine said.

The latest project, the 191,848-square-foot Concourse A expansion, is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2024. It will add 10 gates to Concourse A.

A previous Concourse A expansion added nine gates, in a $200-million project that wrapped up in 2018.

The Concourse A projects and terminal lobby project are part of the airport’s Destination CLT, a $3.5 billion expansion and renovation program.

Delta gains new space at CLT

The new gates will mark an expansion for Delta Air Lines at the Charlotte airport, with the airline gaining two gates for a total of seven at CLT, Christine said.

All of Delta’s gates at CLT will be the new Concourse A expansion.

And the expansion eventually will include a retail store, a restaurant and two bars, according to the airport.

In total, CLT will have 125 gates after the Concourse A expansion is completed, Christine said.

The new expansion will be built on the land that once hosted the former car rental site, according to the airport. That site was torn down in early 2016.

Airport numbers

The Charlotte airport saw a dramatic drop in traffic in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic hit North Carolina.

But the airport is on its way to a full recovery, recording 43 million travelers in 2021. That’s up 59% from the 27 million passengers who traveled through the airport in 2020

That’s still below the record-breaking 50.2 million passengers who traveled to, from and through CLT in 2019, according to the airport. But airport officials predicted in January that passenger travel will make a full recovery by next year.

“Recovery is strong here in Charlotte,” Christine said. “We recovered a lot faster than a lot of other airports did. We continue to see that trend as we roll into summertime.”