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September 4 - 17, 2020
wilmingtonbiz.com
Greater Wilmington Business Journal
| ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT |
Airport officials looking to the future BY SHEA CARVER
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ilmington International Airport officials are focused on getting ILM’s numbers back up to pre-COVID-19 levels, according to a recent airport update. They previously set a goal to increase seats and schedules by 50% and announced by the end of July that they had reached 40%, according to ILM director Julie Wilsey, who gave a presentation to the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 24. The presentation focused on the airport’s operations this year to date and looking ahead to the 2021 fiscal year. Wilsey started off the presentation on a high note, talking about the 1 million-passenger milestone ILM had reached at the end of 2019 and celebrated through January 2020. Everything was moving along on schedule with plans to grow infrastructure, checkpoints, parking and concessions. The reality of COVID-19, however, changed
PHOTO C/O NEW HANOVER COUNTY
PHOTO C/O ILM
ILM update: Wilmington International Airport Director Julie Wilsey gives a presentation about the airport’s operations. A United Airlines flight takes off at ILM. The airport’s three carriers are United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.
everything. By April, ILM – the fifth-largest airport in North Carolina – hit an all-time low in operations. Thanks to the $19.8 million grant awarded by the CARES Act, the airport was able to secure employees and carry its debt for the next four years. ILM serves three carriers current-
ly, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines, and hopes to make room for a fourth airline in the future. In the months since the pandemic hit home and as restrictions have eased, American Airlines has added early-morning departures to Charlotte Douglas International Airport
(CLT); reinstated two daily departures, in early morning and midday, to LaGuardia Airport (LGA); and upgraded a premium cabin aircraft to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). Delta added an early-morning departure to Atlanta, and United added an early-morning departure to
