The Wilmington International Airport

at airports in the U.S. Everyone’s trying to diversify revenue, so we don’t have to rely on airline and FBO revenue.” Regarding competition from nearby airports, on the commercial side, Wilsey says that ILM competes with several Eastern North Carolina airports. “From a general aviation perspective, it’s all about location, location, location,” she remarks. “If you want to fly directly to the beach, you’re going to fly into ILM. Whereas, if you’re price sensitive, you might fly into one of the outlying, county-owned GA facilities and drive to the beach, but that will cost you 45 minutes of driving.” Regarding any future expansion of the Airport, Wilsey explains that ILM does have a land acquisition program that identifies properties adjacent to it. “We have over 1,800 acres to start, so we have plenty of space,” she maintains. “Two or three hundred of those acres are outside the fence, where the business park is located. Currently, we have plenty of room to grow, but we do have pictured Front of ILM an active land acquisition program with certain properties identified. As the owners are ready to move, or they’re no longer interested in living near the Airport, they’ll contact us to buy their property at fair-market value.” Wilsey sees ILM as an economic catalyst for the surrounding region. “A growing and vibrant airport equals a growing economy and community,” she asserts. “Our economic impact measured by an NCDOT study in 2018 was $1.75 billion on the local economy. So, we feel that’s a very strong economic impact. Again, we provide services for all types of aviation; our corporate fleet is very important to the growing business community and those corporate flight departments could be anywhere in the country. They choose to be in Wilmington because of the quality of life that our geographic location and community provides. Our facility is a way that they can do business anywhere in the country, and some, around the world. We have big companies in the area in film, financial, tech, pharma – who have employees that