Wilmington Air Park
[, effective 2009-08-27.] is a public-use
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
located two nautical miles (3.7 km) southeast of the
central business district of
Wilmington, a city in
Clinton County Clinton County may refer to:
*Counties named for George Clinton, first and third Governor of New York, and later the fourth Vice President of the United States:
**Clinton County, New York
** Clinton County, Ohio
*Counties named for DeWitt Clinton, ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. While
DHL had privately owned the property while operating from the facility, the company agreed to donate the airfield to the Clinton County Port Authority.
The airport was formerly known as Clinton County Air Force Base.
History
The airport opened in 1929 and a small
hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
was built in 1930. The landing strip was approved by the
Civil Works Administration in 1933. In 1940, the
Civil Aeronautics Authority
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1938 and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services including scheduled passenger airline serviceStringer, David H."Non-Skeds: T ...
took control of Wilmington Airport for use as an emergency landing field. In 1942, the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
took over the airport, renaming it Clinton County Army Air Field. With the establishment of an independent
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
in 1947, the installation was renamed
Clinton County Air Force Base
Wilmington Air Park, effective 2009-08-27. is a public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) southeast of the central business district of Wilmington, a city in Clinton County, Ohio, United States. While DHL had privately owned ...
and primarily supported
Air Force Reserve flight operations and training under the
302d Troop Carrier Wing
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
(1952-67), which then became the 302d Tactical Airlift Wing and briefly the 302d Special Operations Wing (1967-71).
The base was decommissioned as an Air Force installation in 1972 and the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) began developing the area as the Wilmington Industrial Air Park (WIAP). It also became home to the
Great Oaks Joint Vocation School. In 1977, the Southern State Community College opened, using old barracks buildings as classrooms. In 1980, Midwest Air Charter was acquired by Airborne Freight Corporation, resulting in
Airborne Express
Airborne Express was an express delivery company and cargo airline. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, its hub was in Wilmington, Ohio.
Airborne was founded as the Airborne Flower Traffic Association of California in 1946 to fly flowers f ...
, which became the largest tenant at WIAP.
[ABX Air: Air Park History](_blank)
/ref>
In 2003, as part of the merger of DHL and Airborne, DHL kept Airborne's ground operations and spun off its air operations as ABX Air
ABX Air, Inc., formerly Airborne Express, is a cargo airline headquartered at Wilmington Air Park near the City of Wilmington, Ohio, Wilmington, Ohio, USA. ABX Air operates scheduled, ad hoc charter and Aircraft lease, ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Mai ...
. The facility was a major sorting center for package delivery service DHL Express
DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DH ...
between 2005 and the sorting center's closing in July 2009, following then Deutsche Post
The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies. ...
-owned DHL's cessation of US domestic delivery services.
On August 7th, 2022 one person died and 8 first responders were injured when an automatic fire foam suppression system deployed inside one of the Air Transport and Service Group aircraft hangars.
Facilities and aircraft
The Wilmington Air Park covers an area of at an elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum ยง Ver ...
of 1,077 feet (328 m) above mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set.
For a data set, the '' ari ...
. It has two concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
surfaced runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...
s: 04L/22R is 10,701 by 150 feet (3,262 x 46 m) and 04R/22L is 9,000 by 150 feet (2,743 x 46 m).
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 71,000 aircraft operations, an average of 194 per day: 96% scheduled commercial and 4% general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
.
Future of the property
On January 19, 2010, DHL agreed to turn over the airport, including its two runways, control tower, buildings and cargo storage facilities to the Clinton County Port Authority. The donation became effective on June 2, 2010. While no concrete plans were set, the port authority plans to work with local and state officials on redeveloping the property.
A comprehensive Redevelopment Study for the Wilmington Air Park was completed in December 2011.
In January 2012, the Clinton County Port Authority was in conversations with the Ohio Air National Guard
The Ohio Air National Guard (OH ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Ohio, United States of America. It is, along with the Ohio Army National Guard, an element of the Ohio National Guard.
As state militia units, the units in the Ohio Air ...
for the possible return of a U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
presence at the airport, with possible use as a joint civil-military airfield by the Air National Guard to operate model specific Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
(UAV)
Project Aerosmith and
Amazon Air
Amazon Air, operating under the callsign Prime Air, is a cargo airline operating exclusively to transport Amazon packages. In 2017, it changed its name from Amazon Prime Air to Amazon Air to differentiate themselves from their autonomous drone ...
After years of dormancy, cargo activity resumed during second half of 2015. Operated under the code name Project Aerosmith, Wilmington-based Air Transport Services Group
Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) is an American aviation holding company which provides air cargo transportation and related services to domestic and foreign air carriers and other companies that outsource their air cargo lift requirements. A ...
was performing a trial run for a potential Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...
air cargo operation. In December 2015, Amazon announced that frustration with third-party carriers had led to them investigating their own cargo operation to be flown potentially by ATSG, Atlas Air
Atlas Air, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, is a major American cargo airline, passenger charter airline, and aircraft lessor based in Purchase, New York. Atlas Air is the world's largest operator of the Boei ...
, or Kalitta Air
Kalitta Air is an American cargo airline headquartered at Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The company operates international scheduled and cargo charter services. Its call sign "Connie" is from its founder, Connie Kalitta.
...
. As part of a trial, five ATSG Boeing 767s were being operated from Wilmington to airports near Amazon distribution centers, with 219 flights operated between November 1 and December 17, 2015, in contrast to seven in the previous period the year before.
In March 2016, Amazon announced leases for 20 767s with its Wilmington operations to be supported by ATSG and its subsidiaries including Air Transport International
Air Transport International, Inc. is an airline based in Wilmington, Ohio, United States. It operates worldwide cargo charters and combi charters for the express package industry and freight forwarders, as well as for the United States Department ...
, which served as Amazon's primary carrier. In this announcement, Amazon received options to purchase up to 19.9 percent of ATSG stock, exercisable over a five-year period.
In January 2017 Amazon announced it would shift flight operations to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is a public international airport located in Hebron, Kentucky, United States. It serves the Cincinnati tri-state area. The airport's code, CVG, is derived from the nearest city at the time o ...
(CVG) alongside a major expansion of service. The move was finalized on April 30, 2017, when the last Amazon flight departed. Despite the shift to CVG appearing to be the end of Amazon service at ILN, it was announced in November 2018 that ILN would again open for Amazon so that capacity demands could be met during construction of the company's sort facility at CVG, with operations resuming in June 2019.
Airlines and destinations
Cargo
References
External links
*
{{US-airport-ga, ILN
Airports in Ohio
Buildings and structures in Clinton County, Ohio
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Ohio
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Technical Service Command
Transportation in Clinton County, Ohio