| Charleston International Airport | |
| Image2-Width: | 250 |
| Iata: | CHS |
| Icao: | KCHS |
| Faa: | CHS |
| Type: | Public / military |
| Owner: | Charleston County Joint Base Charleston |
| Operator: | Charleston County Aviation Authority |
| City-Served: | Charleston |
| Location: | North Charleston, S.C. (US) |
| Operating Base: | Breeze Airways |
| Elevation-F: | 46 |
| Coordinates: | 32.8986°N -80.0406°W |
| Mapframe: | yes |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 10 |
| Mapframe-Wikidata: | yes |
| Image Mapsize: | 275 |
| Image Map Caption: | FAA diagram as of January 2021 |
| R1-Number: | 03/21 |
| R1-Length-F: | 7,000 |
| R1-Surface: | Concrete |
| R2-Number: | 15/33 |
| R2-Length-F: | 9,001 |
| R2-Surface: | Concrete |
| Stat-Year: | 2023 |
| Stat1-Header: | Total passengers |
| Stat1-Data: | 6,153,540 |
| Stat2-Header: | Aircraft operations |
| Stat2-Data: | 122,653 |
| Footnotes: | Source: Charleston Co. Aviation Authority,[1] Federal Aviation Administration[2] |
Charleston International Airport is a joint civil-military airport located in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The airport is operated by the Charleston County Aviation Authority under a joint-use agreement with Joint Base Charleston.[3] It is South Carolina's busiest airport; in 2023 the airport served over 6.1 million passengers in its busiest year on record.[4] The airport is located in North Charleston and is approximately 12miles northwest of downtown Charleston. The airport serves as a focus city for Breeze Airways. It is also home to the Boeing facility that assembles the 787 Dreamliner.[5]
In 1928, the Charleston Airport Corporation was founded and purchased of land previously belonging to a mining company. Although privately developed at first, the City of Charleston floated bonds in 1931 to acquire a portion of the site for passenger service. Within ten years, three runways were paved and outfitted with lighting for nighttime operations. In World War II, control of the airfield passed to the United States Army though civilian service was allowed to continue to use the airfield. After the war, the airfield reverted to civilian use for a short time. In 1949, a new passenger terminal was built.
During the Korean War, the airfield was reactivated for military use and in 1952, the City of Charleston and the United States Air Force reached an agreement on control of the base and the runways—an arrangement that has been renegotiated over time and that continues to this day. In 1979, the civilian portions of the airport were transferred from the City of Charleston to the Charleston County Aviation Authority, which had operated two other airports in the area. The current terminal on the south end of the airport was built in the 1980s on land acquired by Georgia Pacific.[6]
In October 2009, Boeing announced that it would build a major plant on at the airport as a second final assembly site for its 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft. The facility began limited operations in July 2011 and rolled out its first completed aircraft in April 2012. Additional facilities to complement aircraft assembly have since been announced by the company.[5]
Since 2010, the airport's passenger figures have doubled.[7] New services established by additional airlines during this time along with increased services from the three legacy carriers have contributed to this growth.
In 2021, the newly established Breeze Airways announced that the airport would serve as a focus city for the airline and announced service to 11 cities. In 2022, the airport authority announced a 20-year master plan for future growth of the airport, including the constructing of an additional concourse, adding up to 11 new gates, providing additional plane stands, and expanding parking facilities for vehicles.[8]
The airport has had brief periods of international service. In 2001, Air Canada briefly served the airport from Toronto but ended service immediately after the September 11th attacks in 2001. Porter Airlines briefly served Charleston with flights to Toronto in 2015. In April 2019, British Airways launched a seasonal route to London's Heathrow Airport. This was Charleston's first transatlantic flight. The first season ended in October. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the service was suspended in 2020.[9] In 2023, Air Canada announced a return to Charleston with daily nonstop flights to Toronto starting in March 2024.[10]
The airport consists of four general areas: the military area to the west, the airline terminal to the south, the general aviation area to the east, and the Boeing assembly area further to the south. The combined airport area of Charleston International Airport and Charleston Air Force Base covers 2060acres and has two runways: 15/33, 9001x and 03/21, 7000x.[11]
For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2019, the airport had 118,211 aircraft operations, an average of 324 per day: 42% commercial, 28% general aviation, 16% military, and 13% air taxi.[1] In May 2019, there were 81 aircraft based at this airport: 28 single-engine, 6 multi-engine, 43 jet, and 4 helicopter.
Joint Base Charleston owns and operates the runways at the airport and has an agreement with the Charleston County Aviation Authority to allow civilian use of the field. General aviation services are operated by the Charleston County Aviation Authority. Boeing South Carolina operates the Boeing assembly area.
The current airline terminal completed a three-year, $200 million redevelopment project in 2016 which added five gates and significantly renovated the interior appearance of the facility.[12] The original terminal was built in 1985 and was designed by Howard Needles Tammen & Bergendoff, Davis & Floyd, Inc., and Lucas & Stubbs.[13] [14]
Both departures and arrivals are located on the same floor, with the departure area to the east end of the terminal and the arrival area to the west end. Flights depart from two concourses: Concourse A towards the east and Concourse B towards the west. Since 2015, a consolidated TSA security checkpoint is utilized for both concourses.[15] Charleston International Airport is classified as a security-level Category I airport by the TSA. The airport is equipped to handle international flights.
Concourse A contains eight gates (A1, A2, A2A, and A3-A7) that are primarily used by Delta Air Lines and Delta Connection, with other airlines occasionally using gates as needed for overflow. Concourse B contains ten gates (B1-B10) and is used by other airlines serving the airport. Concourse B also contains the international arrivals facility.
Charleston International Airport is located near the interchange of Interstate 26 and Interstate 526 and is accessible from both interstates using International Boulevard and Montague Avenue exits. The airport offers a free cell phone parking lot for passenger pickups. For short-term and long-term parking, the airport offers surface or garage parking for up to 30 days. Rental cars from major companies are available. The airport completed a rental car pavilion adjacent to the terminal in 2014.[16]
CARTA, the regional mass transit system, serves the airport with one bus route that operates seven days a week.
| Rank | Airline | Passengers | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Airlines | 1,083,000 | 17.80% |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | 1,034,000 | 16.99% |
| 3 | Southwest Airlines | 853,000 | 14.02% |
| 4 | United Airlines | 639,000 | 10.50% |
| 5 | Breeze Airways | 639,000 | 10.49% |
| 6 | Other | 1,839,000 | 30.21% |
| 1 | Atlanta, Georgia | 412,690 | Delta | |
| 2 | Charlotte, North Carolina | 299,610 | American | |
| 3 | Newark, New Jersey | 177,500 | Spirit, United | |
| 4 | Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas | 148,110 | American | |
| 5 | Baltimore, Maryland | 139,420 | Southwest | |
| 6 | New York-LGA, New York | 136,490 | Delta, Spirit | |
| 7 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 130,830 | American, Frontier | |
| 8 | New York-JFK, New York | 121,880 | Delta, JetBlue | |
| 9 | Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois | 113,490 | American, United | |
| 10 | Washington-National, DC | 105,040 | American |
| 2003 | 1,616,255 | 2013 | 2,913,265 | 2023 | 6,153,540 | |
| 2004 | 1,828,597 | 2014 | 3,131,072 | 2024 | ||
| 2005 | 2,143,105 | 2015 | 3,415,952 | 2025 | ||
| 2006 | 1,877,631 | 2016 | 3,708,133 | 2026 | ||
| 2007 | 2,275,541 | 2017 | 3,987,427 | 2027 | ||
| 2008 | 2,334,219 | 2018 | 4,470,239 | 2028 | ||
| 2009 | 2,190,251 | 2019 | 4,871,062 | 2029 | ||
| 2010 | 2,021,328 | 2020 | 1,952,271 | 2030 | ||
| 2011 | 2,520,829 | 2021 | 4,181,588 | 2031 | ||
| 2012 | 2,593,063 | 2022 | 5,322,147 | 2032 |