New Hanover County commissioners on Tuesday heard a description of the projects completed and underway at Wilmington International Airport as the airport performs upgrades and prepares for increased traffic next year around the Wells Fargo Championship in early May.

The commissioners and New Hanover County Airport Authority met Tuesday morning in a special joint meeting to review the airport’s annual report, just before holding a news conference to announce the airport business park's certification as a fiber-ready site.

Air Wilmington, the airport’s fixed base operator (FBO) serving general aviation clients, has completed a $3 million,  21,000-square-foot hangar, big enough to accommodate three Gulfstream IV aircraft, according to airport director Julie Wilsey.

ILM has spent about $5.8 million to improve the area around Runway 24 by improving drainage and reducing wildlife hazards, Wilsey said.

Another project made improvements to the airport's North Ramp, which is the general aviation paved aircraft parking area (see rendering).

Wilsey reported the addition of three tenants on the airport campus. Battle House Tactical Laser Tag has moved into a 10,000-square-foot building on Hall Drive, while SeaHawk Aviation, a special aviation service operation, now occupies the south hangar, which was briefly the home of FBO Aviat Mall, which ceased operations when it realized it could not fulfill its FBO duties.

Since beginning operations earlier this year, SeaHawk has seen great demand for its services. It started with one mechanic and now employs three and is running six days a week, airport authority chairman Jonathan Crane said.

The third new tenant will be Live Oak Bank, which is “close to signing” a lease, Wilsey said. The leased property will be the site of a new office and a hangar for its three private jets.

Asked the status of ILM’s Foreign Trade Zone application, Wilsey replied that state Rep. Rick Catlin (R-New Hanover), who has advocated for trade zone designation, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to help work out details. She said the airport should receive its certification “relatively soon.”

Becoming an FTZ – the U.S. version of a free-trade zone – would  allow ILM to house commercial operations that store, exhibit, assemble, manufacture or process foreign and domestic merchandise and would give those operations distinct financial advantages.

Under zone procedures, the usual formal customs entry procedures and payments of duties are not required on foreign merchandise unless and until it enters U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) territory for domestic consumption, at which point the importer generally has the choice of paying duties at the rate of either the original foreign materials or the finished product. Domestic goods moved into the zone for export may be considered exported upon admission to the zone for purposes of excise tax rebates and drawback, according to the CBP website.

Airport officials answered questions about the chances of getting more flights and more air carriers to serve ILM. Since Wilmington does not have the passenger volume to attract low-cost carriers, there isn’t the competition that keeps fares low, ILM deputy director Gary Broughton said.

Wilsey said that, if ILM were able to lure a low-cost carrier, Allegiant would be the most likely prospect, but it would offer service a couple of days each week to leisure destinations in Florida.

She added, however, that American Airlines’ seasonal service from ILM to Washington, D.C. is set to resume May 7 and will continue through the summer and into the early fall.