Business View Magazine | October 2019

188 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2019 INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Expanding for the future T he Wilmington International Airport (ILM) is a primary commercial service airport with general aviation services, located just north of Wilmington, North Carolina, in New Hanover County. The Airport was originally named Bluethenthal Field, dedicated on May 30, 1928 for Arthur Bluethenthal, a young Wilmingtonian who was killed while flying for the French, before the U.S. entered World War I. During World War II, the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Forces for antisubmarine patrols and training, using P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. The Army expanded the airfield with three new 7,000-foot runways, and after the war, deeded the site back to New Hanover County at no cost. ILM is proud to have a special piece of aviation history and link to Piedmont Airlines, whose inaugural flight departed Wilmington on Feb. 20, 1948. In the 1950s, the Airport became known as the New Hanover County Airport; in 1988, it ngton W ilm i THE pictured ILM terminal expansion rendering