Charlotte Douglas International Airport (IATA: CLT, ICAO: KCLT, FAA LID: CLT) is an international airport serving Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, located roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) west of the city's central business district.

Operated by the city of Charlotte's aviation department,[3] the airport covers 5,558 acres (2,249 ha) of land.

[9] Charlotte is a fortress hub for American Airlines, which operates the majority of the airport's flights.

[10] 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.

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 OAG for April 1957 shows 57 weekday departures on Eastern, 7 Piedmont, 6 Capital, 4 Delta and 2 Southern.

This new facility had eight dedicated gates for Eastern, each with its own departure lounge, snack bar and separate baggage claim space.

United's flights continued to use the east pier, with an enclosed holding room added for waiting passengers.

[13][14] After airline deregulation, passenger numbers at the terminal nearly doubled between 1978 and 1980, and a new 10,000-foot (3,000 m) 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.

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.

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.

At 9,000 feet (2,700 m) long, the new "third parallel" allows three independent approaches for arrivals even from the south, potentially increasing capacity by 33 percent.

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.

[23] Destination CLT represents a total $2.5 billion investment into the future growth of the airport.

Air Canada, JetBlue, United, Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit moved their operations to Concourse A North upon its completion.

[24] A digital artwork titled "Interconnected," by Refik Anadol, is prominently featured on three massive display screens in Concourse A North.

After the lobby renovation and expansion is complete, a 146,000-square-foot (13,600 m2) glass canopy will be constructed over the roadway and pedestrian skybridges and tunnels will be built connecting the terminal to the hourly parking/rental car facility complex.

[38] The construction of the CATS LYNX Silver Line, expected to be complete in 2030, will bring light rail service to the airport.

[40] All five concourses are connected to the central terminal building housing ticketing, security, and baggage claim.

The level 2 lobby includes customer counters and kiosks from the following companies: Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz and National.

Sullenberger Aviation Museum, established in 1992, has a collection of over 50 aircraft, including a DC-3 that is painted in Piedmont Airlines livery.

[54] Here, visitors can watch planes take off, land, and taxi to and from runway 18C/36C in addition to providing a view of concourse A.

[55] Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a smoke-free facility, which means that smoking is prohibited inside the terminal building, including all restaurants, bars, lounges, and airline clubs.

This is in accordance with the North Carolina Smoke-Free Law, which bans smoking in most of the public places and workplaces.