Wilmington Air Park, with 12 companies and 1,200 employees, is ready to embark on $3 million worth of improvements in the first quarter of 2018 as it looks to retain its customers, help them expand and position itself for other opportunities.
The new investments involve navigational aid systems, runway lighting and pavement repair to runways, taxiways and ramps. The money comes from a state grant.
"Our ability to help our current tenants (like ATSG and its subsidiary Airborne) and current customers provide the highest level of service is a big part of what's driving these investments," says Clinton County Port Authority Executive Director Dan Evers.
Evers says the Air Park can accommodate any aircraft and has one of the largest runways in the world at 10,000 linear feet.
He says in 2016 and the first quarter of 2017 the Wilmington Air Park had the highest volume of freight cargo in Ohio. It was 32nd in the nation.
"Our ability to service that volume and to service e-commerce, air cargo, freight forwarders, it's not hypothetical or theoretical, it's today."
It was 2009 when DHL closed its domestic operations in Wilmington, affecting 10,000 jobs.
