Work begins at ILG terminal expansion

NEW CASTLE — A little more than a year after the Delaware River and Bay Authority welcomed Avelo Airlines to the First State, federal and state officials have symbolically broken ground on a project that will triple the capacity of Wilmington International Airport (ILG) – and hopefully entice another airliner to land there.

Delaware’s business and government officials, as well as U.S. Sen. Tom Carper and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, gathered under a white tent on the tarmac on Monday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for an expansion of the airport’s terminal. The $9.8 million project will add another 6,000 square feet to the passenger holding room as well as another boarding gate, a new converter belt for baggage claim, bathroom upgrades and food concessions.

The entire project is estimated to bring 100 jobs at ILG as well as 60 temporary construction jobs. The DRBA estimated that the expanded terminal will be open in fall 2025, although some amenities may take longer.

The major upgrade comes at a time when the ILG has been bustling with activity it has not seen in years. Avelo Airlines alone has seen close to a half a million passengers come through the airport since it launched service in February 2023. Later this month, Avelo is reportedly bringing a second aircraft to ILG and DRBA representatives confirmed their hope is to add another airline for service.

“This is going to create more flexibility in flight scheduling, it’ll make the TSA process easier and more efficient, and it’ll double the number of gates that we have,” DRBA Director Tom Cooke told the crowd on Monday morning. “It also addresses one of the biggest concerns I hear from everyone: can we have more than just vending machine options at the airport?”

The ILG terminal first opened before World War II but had not seen any upgrades since roughly 1955 and its single-lane checkpoint could only cross 120 passengers per hour. That means the airport could only provide one flight every 90 minutes. 

Avelo Airlines’ success has been one of the major drivers to see the Delaware River and Bay Authority invest in renovating the terminal, as the upstart airliner has seen thousands of passengers and has kept its load factors on average 75% between April 2023 and June 2024 meaning 75% of its flights’ available seats were purchased.

The DRBA has been working to support the sheer volume of interest from passengers and visitors in Avelo’s low cost and convenient options, including investing in more parking. Earlier this year, the bi-state agency bought a shuttered hotel and has since tore it down to pave way for a lot.

To support the terminal expansion, Delaware’s congressional delegation secured $5.6 million from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Terminal Program, which offered $5 billion in competitive grants to fund upgrades for aging airports across the country. The program was created through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as part of President Joseph Biden’s agenda to transform infrastructure through new projects and creating construction jobs.

Carper was asked by Biden, along with a coalition of other representatives and senators, to craft the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – or in Carper’s words, to “get this party started.”

“Many people would say the role of government is to do for the people is to do what they cannot do for themselves, and the goal of infrastructure law is to do what others couldn’t do. The question is, is it working? It’s working like gangbusters,” Carper said. “Economic development and job creation is a shared responsibility, because we can’t do it all.”

Blunt Rochester recalled that when she first started as a caseworker for Carper in the 1990s, ILG was one of the first issues she was tasked to work with. Now with the U.S. Route 13 corridor still waning with some shuttered restaurants and aviation businesses, but with a strong hub of drive-thru businesses attracting commuters, the representative noted that it may be time to see that success from Avelo spill out along the highway.

“That’s how far this vision goes back. It’s a beautiful day for those who have been working on this for a while,” Blunt Rochester added. “This airport generates more than $391 million for our economy, and it’s going to put money back into our small businesses, our hotels and our restaurants. It’s going to put money back in our local communities … In Delaware, the sky’s the limit.”

New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer said that while many locals get excited about the easy flights to Florida and Puerto Rico, he also saw the airport as a chance to showcase what Delaware has to offer to Delaware.

“This is an opportunity for our tourist economy, for people to come here to understand and experience Delaware, and that’s only better if people, when they arrive, see a beautiful, thriving airport with a local flavor and happy customers,” Meyer said. 

Meyer, who is the Democratic candidate for governor, thanked Gov. John Carney for his vision and stressed that strong leadership will be needed ahead to ensure that ILG capitalizes on the opportunity. 

“I look forward to this terminal having that vibrancy and the same spirit of our community … I think with the leadership at the federal level, [the DRBA], the state and the local level, we’ve been able to take advantage, and we need to make sure it happens in the future.”

Go to Source:https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/news/work-begins-at-ilg-terminal-expansion/

Author: Katie Tabeling