Economic Development

| ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | Airport officials looking to the future

BY SHEA CARVER

Wilmington 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

Dulles International Airport (IAD).

Wilsey said airport officials tightened their budget for 2021 and have updated operating procedures to implement new sanitization and cleanliness policies under their COVID-19 program, “until the coast is clear.”

The airport has installed plexiglass sneeze guards and hand-sanitizer stations, made seating changes, has cashless self-service parking, modified restaurant menus and installed social distancing floor markers.

The new normal of travel includes all employees and passengers wear masks at all times in public spaces, from check-in to boarding, and then are carried through according to each airline’s policy.

Grants awarded to ILM in FY20 from the state General Assembly ($9.1 million) and from the FAA ($21 million) have helped the airport move forward with Terminal Expansion Contracts 2 and 3 over the past five months, Wilsey said.

ILM increased terminal expansion with new ticket areas and added a third checkpoint lane. By the beginning of July, it was operating two lanes daily for more efficient customer service.

ILM also updated the outbound baggage system for its airline partners.

The airport will continue moving forward with the Monteith Construction contract that costs around $750,000 a month for gate and terminal expansion, slated for completion in early 2023.

“This is a challenging period we’re going through,” Commissioner Rob Zapple commented to Wilsey. “You’re doing a terrific job. Does the ticketing area include more kiosks to shift away from person-to-person contact? And where do you stand on the parking decks?”

Wilsey confirmed during the presentation that more airline kiosks will help expedite passenger checkin; however, the airport’s original plans to build new parking areas or decks have been put on hold.

“We believe the current lots will be sufficient for Thanksgiving,” she said in an email Aug. 24. “All lots are now operated by credit card machines, making it a cashless process. We are delaying any decision on new parking areas for a year, when we see how passenger traffic and parking returns.” Project Touchdown could bring jobs to Brunswick

Economic developers are working with Brunswick County to help a Leland-area manufacturer secure a grant to expand.

Called “Project Touchdown,” the economic development effort could help the manufacturer to expand the firm’s existing facility resulting in a minimum of 17 jobs, according to county documents. Officials have not named the firm, citing competitive reasons.

The business, which is in unincorporated Brunswick County, is seeking to expand its manufacturing operation but needs to be connected to public wastewater to do so, said Bill Early, executive director of Brunswick Business and Industry Development (Brunswick BID), the local economic development agency charged with business and industry recruitment and retention efforts in the county.

“They’re trying to get grants to help pay the costs of extending the sewer lines,” Early said of the firm. “They can’t add employees to the existing system.”

The Brunswick County Board of

Commissioners at its meeting Aug. 17 authorized staff with Brunswick BID to submit a formal application to the N.C. Department of Commerce to provide assistance to benefit Project Touchdown, according to the county.

The application is for a $100,000 grant and would require the county to provide a 5% match and meet all state commerce requirements.

The move by commissioners came following a closed session at a recent meeting to discuss the business development effort.

Brunswick BID is working with the county to help solidify the grant application to the state’s Rural Infrastructure Authority, under the commerce department, Early said.

“We’re hoping to have the state approve it at their meeting in October,” he said. “We have to finalize the application to the state, and I am waiting for some additional information to go with that application from the company.”

Additional funding could be sought in the future to aid the project, Early said. - Christina Haley O’Neal