On July 22, Charleston International Airport said it was formally pursuing the Transportation Security Administration’s Gold+ program, which would have let a private company screen passengers under TSA oversight. By fall, the plan was off.

TSA scrapped Gold+ in late August, and Charleston opted out, the Post and Courier reported. Tampa, Florida, and Des Moines, Iowa, the other two airports slated to start the program next year, had backed out first.

“We didn’t sign on contracts. We didn’t do anything, and we’re not going to,” airport CEO Elliott Summey said at a Sept. 17 board meeting attended by union representatives, the Post and Courier reported.

Meanwhile, the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority, the public agency that runs the airport, proposed a tax-exempt line of credit of up to $150 million in August and announced a Buffalo route in October.

What Gold+ would have done

Current TSA officers who wanted to stay would have moved to the contractor at equivalent pay and benefits, without the risk of missed paychecks in future federal shutdowns, the airport said in July. It also promised newer screening technology.

Summey said in the July announcement that the move was about giving officers “better tools, greater workplace stability, and the support they deserve.”

More than 200 TSA employees work on the airport campus, where the agency’s statewide headquarters is based, the Post and Courier reported. During more than 40 unpaid days earlier this year, Summey said, TSA staff struggled to buy gas and pay bills, according to the newspaper.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 47,000 TSA officers, opposed Gold+. The union sued TSA on Aug. 5 seeking records about the program, the Post and Courier reported, and members rallied at the airport Sept. 16, ABC News 4 reported.

What replaces it

TSA announced Aug. 24 that an “evolved Screening Partnership Program will replace TSA Gold+.”

Under that existing program, private companies screen passengers under TSA oversight at 20 airports, including San Francisco International and Kansas City International, according to the agency. TSA says the contractor works for TSA, not the airport authority, and must use TSA-provided screening equipment. Gold+ would have had contractors manage both the workforce and the technology, Federal News Network reported.

“As we did with the Gold+ initiative, Charleston International Airport is actively gathering information and evaluating what these changes could mean for our airport, our TSA screening professionals and the traveling public,” Summey said, according to the Post and Courier. He said the airport would evaluate the Screening Partnership Program and other options before deciding.

The $150 million credit line

On Aug. 4, the authority posted notice of an Aug. 10 public hearing, held by phone, on a plan by the Charleston Regional Airport District to issue a tax-exempt airport revenue promissory note, Series 2026. The note would be a revolving line of credit of up to $150 million, issued as a subordinate obligation, to finance an airport project at Charleston International that the district will own.

The notice does not name the project. Federal tax rules require such a hearing for certain tax-exempt bonds, the notice says. The airport’s news page has not posted an update on the financing since.

In June 2024, the authority’s board voted to expand a line of credit to speed up the West Gate expansion, the Post and Courier reported.

“It’s similar to how one might take out a second mortgage or home equity line,” Summey said then.

Two large projects are underway, according to the airport. The West Gate expansion will add four gates on the west side of the terminal, raising gate capacity by about 15%. The airport expects significant completion of a parking garage with a $348 million budget in summer 2027.

A record 6,341,145 travelers came through the airport in 2025, up about 1% from 2024, the Post and Courier reported.

Buffalo and Breeze

Breeze Airways will begin the first nonstop flights between Charleston and Buffalo on July 2, 2027, flying twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, the airport announced Oct. 13. Fares start at $69 one way, ABC News 4 reported.

Breeze began flying from Charleston in 2021, the airport said in June, when it called the carrier’s new Trenton, New Jersey, route its 29th nonstop destination from CHS.

A new name, the same officers

The authority was the Charleston County Aviation Authority until May 8, 2025, when the governor signed a law renaming it and its airport district, according to the South Carolina Legislature. Summey said the airport’s passenger base was “growing into and beyond the tri-county area” and “it makes sense that our name reflects that,” the Post and Courier reported.

The authority now runs four airports, including Berkeley County Airport in Moncks Corner, its website says.

On Sept. 17, the 11-member board unanimously re-elected Helen T. Hill as chair, Charlie Salmonsen as vice chair and Ravi Sanyal as secretary-treasurer, the same officers as last year. Hill, president and CEO of Explore Charleston, has led the board since 2019, according to the authority.

“Expanding air service and investing in our airports strengthens the infrastructure and connectivity that are essential to our economy and quality of life,” Hill said in the authority’s announcement.

The West Gates are scheduled to open in early 2027, the Post and Courier reported, months before the first flight to Buffalo.