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This rendering shows a proposed terminal
expansion at Wilmington Airport.
COURTESY OF DRBA
CONVENIENT AIRPORTS, STRONG IN DUSTRY PRESENCE MAKES
Delaware an Aviation Hub
By Tina Irgang Leaderman
the East Coast means the state
Delaware’s central location along
is surrounded by airports for
both passenger and commercial
traffic. Major airports within less than three
hours of Wilmington include:
• Philadelphia International Airport
• Newark Liberty International Airport
• John F. Kennedy
International Airport
• Baltimore/Washington International
Thurgood Marshall Airport
• Dulles International Airport
• Ronald Reagan Washington
National Airport
• LaGuardia Airport
Add to this a number of smaller avia-
tion facilities like the Cape May Airport
and Millville Executive Airport in New
Jersey as well as the Wilmington Airport,
Delaware Airpark (Dover), the Delaware
Coastal Airport (Georgetown) and the Civil
Air Terminal at Dover Air Force Base, all
in Delaware.
In fact, a recent agreement between the
Delaware Department of Transportation
and the U.S. Department of Defense sets
up 50 years of cargo and private flights
from the Air Force Base.
“It is a really good benefit for compa-
nies wanting to invest in our area,” said
Linda Parkowski, executive director of
the Kent Economic Partnership. (The Air
Force Base is located in Kent County.) “The
number of takeoffs and landings has been
increased in this new agreement, and for
private aviation, there’s no longer a require-
ment to give advance notice.”
As for the Delaware Coastal Airport, it’s
adjacent to the Delaware Coastal Busi-
ness Park, so if a company has an aircraft
or a fleet of aircraft, “you can actually bring
them here,” said William Pfaff, director of
economic development for Sussex County,
where the Coastal Airport is located. “Some
of the businesses around here, including
the grocery store chain Harris Teeter, have
used our airport to fly in and visit their
operations. The poultry industry uses our
airport all the time as well.”
Wilmington Airport:
On the Verge of Growth
“On September 30, we broke ground on a
new terminal expansion at the Wilmington
Airport,” said James Salmon, public infor-
mation officer for the Delaware River and
Bay Authority (DRBA), which oversees the
airport and other key local infrastructure.
“That will provide additional gate capacity
to handle more commercial air service
opportunities. We’re also planning to
modernize the inside and offer improved
“As we continued to grow, one of
the most attractive opportunities
was Wilmington. We saw it
as a great alternative to more
congested airports for people in
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and Maryland.”
– Trevor Yealy, Head of Commercial, Avelo Airlines
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