When Julie Wilsey said "it was a marathon, not a sprint" during her keynote address on the growth of Wilmington International Airport, you could not help but be struck by it. From a small airstrip a century ago, WIA — or ILM, as it is popularly known by its IATA code — is now North Carolina's fourth-largest airport by passenger numbers.
A Landing Field and a Love Story
It all started in the 1920s, when resident opinion-shapers in the flight industry grew fed up with the small airstrip that existed then and demanded the county build a proper landing field. Among them was Warren Pennington, a renowned flight enthusiast and the first pilot to fly there, in 1927 — with his fifteen-year-old girlfriend, Anna Feenstra, aboard. He gifted her a flying certificate a year later, and the love story culminated in the two of them tying the knot.
In that same year of 1927, the airport was named Bluethenthal Field, a tribute to Arthur Bluethenthal — the American footballer from Wilmington who became a bomber pilot for France in the First World War, only to die in combat. You can read all the facts about this fallen hero of Wilmington in this article from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Arthur Bluethenthal: All-American football star, ambulance driver, aviator — and the Wilmington native whose name the field carried for its first two decades.
War, Airlines and a New Name
Coastal Plains Airways made its base at the field in 1929 and started flying from there. At the height of the Second World War, between 1941 and 1945, the US Army Air Forces ran its operations and command center here, from which major missions were staged. When the guns went silent, the airport was handed over to New Hanover County's management.
Piedmont Airlines — later acquired by US Airways — was next to seize the opportunity of a promising new airline market, beginning commercial flights soon after, in 1948. Pressure from the business community to carry passengers to major destinations like New York City saw the carrier scale up to three daily flights. What started in 1948 has remained one of the airline's major routes to this day.
In 1950 the new management changed the name from Bluethenthal Field to New Hanover County Airport and gave the field a facelift — big passenger carriers could now fly there, and the airport's economic significance began to shift.
"WIA — or ILM, as it is popularly referred to in IATA codes."
The Authority Takes the Controls
In the late 1980s, after the ratification of various pieces of legislation, an independent, autonomous body was established to run the airport. This body — the New Hanover County Airport Authority — was given the mandate to manage the field, and management formally transferred to it with the signing of a lease in 1989.
Progressive improvements, like the construction of an 88,000-square-foot terminal, revamped the business, and a few further changes readied the field for new opportunities. The airport brought itself into compliance with international standards, and to reflect its newly acquired status, the word "international" was inscribed into its name: it became New Hanover County International Airport.
That name lasted until 1997, when the Airport Authority adopted the name it carries today — Wilmington International Airport. The renaming aligned the airport with its growth strategy and tied it to its hometown of Wilmington, whose community had been on the front line championing its growth all along.
The Growth Trajectory
There have been many developments of late, with new airlines choosing to land here. In 2011, for example, American Eagle started flights between Chicago O'Hare International Airport and ILM, while US Airways began service from ILM to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The airport has been on a growth trajectory thanks to its connections to many other cities within America and beyond. From here you can connect to the West Coast, Central America, and Asia, among other places.
- 1927
Bluethenthal Field
The county builds a landing field; Warren Pennington makes the first flight, girlfriend aboard.
- 1929
First airline
Coastal Plains Airways bases itself at the field and begins flying.
- 1941–45
The war years
The US Air Force runs operations and a command center from Wilmington.
- 1948
Piedmont arrives
Commercial flights begin — soon three a day, with New York in reach.
- 1950
New Hanover County Airport
A new name and a facelift bring the big passenger carriers.
- 1989
The Airport Authority
An independent authority signs the lease; an 88,000 sq-ft terminal follows.
- 1997
Wilmington International
The airport takes the name of the community that championed it.
- 2011
New routes
American Eagle to Chicago O'Hare; US Airways to Washington National.
Today, the Airport Authority is in the process of pumping more funds into expanding infrastructure and technology to handle the growing number of passengers, now projected to hit the one-million mark annually.
- North Carolina's 4th-largest airport by customer numbers.
- First named Bluethenthal Field (1927), then New Hanover County Airport (1950), then New Hanover County International (1988), then Wilmington International (1997).
- Managed since 1989 by the independent New Hanover County Airport Authority.
- Passengers projected to reach one million a year.