Officials running the Wilmington Air Park say they have reason to be optimistic as they attempt to fill the still mostly vacant space. From Ohio Public Radio WVXU, Ann Thompson has the story.
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In June it will be three years since the Clinton County Port Authority has taken donation of 15-hundred acres, 2 fully functioning commercial runways, 150 acres of tarmac and 3 million square feet of building space. Thousands of jobs vanished when DHL shut down domestic operations there. Now the Wilmington Air Park is starting an aggressive marketing campaign with a new website and plans for ad placement and trade show visits. Port Authority Executive Director Kevin Carver says he has seen more activity in the past month than it saw all of last year, recently responding to eight or nine leads. Carver says the Air Force Research Lab continues to test unmanned drones at the Air Park. It may eventually become a national drone test center if the FAA chooses it. A new maintenance and repair hangar will be finished in about a year, creating 250 jobs and Air Transport Services Group is moving one of its administrative offices from Arkansas. That will create an additional 65 to 80 jobs, some local.
For Ohio Public Radio, I’m Ann Thompson in Cincinnati