Ilm Airport growth plans vs. its lean finances: what the numbers reveal

At ilm airport, passenger growth is accelerating while a roughly quarter-billion dollars’ worth of upgrades sits on the horizon. The comparison worth making is between two sets of facts presented to local officials: the airport’s expanding demand, and the financial structure it says keeps costs low and debt limited. Set side by side, the question becomes whether its current model can absorb the scale of capital needs being outlined.

Jeffrey Bourk’s growth picture at ilm airport: from 760, 000 to 1. 8 million travelers

ILM Director Jeffrey Bourk framed the airport’s current moment with a blunt before-and-after: about 10 years ago, roughly 760, 000 travelers moved through Wilmington International Airport, and now that number has risen to 1. 8 million. Bourk told a room of elected officials, county staff, and media on Tuesday morning that his expectation is the airport will “double again” over the next 10 years, and he argued that the facilities must be ready for that.

Growth also shows up in the way the airport tracks passenger activity. Bourk pointed to a 23. 2% increase in enplanements since last year, describing enplanements as one-way travelers, while passenger numbers represent round trips. He also said the airport reached its highest enplanement level in 2025.

Forecasts in the presentation added a second layer to the growth narrative. By 2045, the Federal Aviation Administration expects local enplanements to be about 1. 1 million, while ILM’s “optimistic forecast” is 1. 5 million. Those two projections create a range rather than a single endpoint, but both sit above today’s figures, reinforcing the assumption that the airport will need to expand capacity.

New Hanover County Airport Authority’s financial model: low costs, minimal debt

The same meeting also emphasized how the airport is funded and governed. New Hanover County owns the land the airport sits on and leases it to the New Hanover County Airport Authority; county commissioners appoint members to the authority board. Yet the airport “financially operates independently, ” a distinction that matters because the upcoming construction needs are being presented alongside an operating plan that depends on the airport’s own revenues.

For 2026, the airport’s operating revenue is expected to be between $21 million and $22 million. The main revenue streams cited were $3 million from ILM Business Park leases, $2. 5 million from aviation activity such as airline landing fees, terminal space rentals, and aircraft parking, and $15. 8 million from terminal operations. The portion most explicitly described as variable is terminal revenue, because it depends on how many enplanements the airport brings in this year. The 2026 budget estimates enplanements between 850, 500 and 907, 000.

Keeping airline costs low was presented as a deliberate strategy. The airport’s cost-per-enplanement was put at about $3. 82 per passenger, compared with other airports charging $8. 53. Bourk tied that result to lower operating expenses and minimal debt. On debt service, the numbers offered were $2. 3 million this year and an estimated $2. 2 million in 2027. By 2028, the balance sheet is projected to carry no debt service, provided no new debt is issued. Airport authority Vice Chair Jason Thompson praised the operation’s staffing levels—58 full-time employees and 12 part-timers—and called it “the most financially prudent organization” he has been part of.

Side-by-side: the quarter-billion project list versus the promise of a low-cost structure

Placed in direct comparison, the airport’s demand story and its financial story point in different directions: one argues for major new spending, the other highlights restraint. Bourk described “almost $250 million” in projects on the books, with one already in construction. The list of needs he cited included expanding the passenger drop-off curb, enhancing parking, and modernizing baggage facilities, among other items. He also described the facility strain that comes with more visitors, suggesting that growth itself is now a driver of near-term construction planning.

The tension is clearer when the investment scale is set against the operating framework. A revenue range of $21 million to $22 million for 2026 sits alongside a capital plan approaching $250 million, which signals that major projects will likely require long-horizon planning and careful sequencing. At the same time, the airport’s pursuit of a low cost-per-enplanement—$3. 82 compared with $8. 53 elsewhere—implies a commitment to keeping airline-facing costs down, even as expansion demands rise.

Analysis: The comparison suggests the airport’s central challenge is not choosing between growth and prudence, but reconciling them. The same low-debt, low-cost approach that helps attract airlines and keep fees down may face its stiffest test when “almost $250 million” in projects moves from planning to procurement. If ilm airport maintains minimal debt while pursuing the capital list Bourk outlined, the comparison suggests project timing and scope discipline will become as important as passenger growth itself.

The next confirmed checkpoint arrives Tuesday, March 10, 2026, when the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners will hold a joint meeting with the Airport Authority at 8: 30 a. m. ET at Wilmington International Airport. The stated purpose is for the Airport Authority to present its annual report and a vision plan update, a setting that will put the growth forecasts and the financing posture in the same room again—this time with the project pipeline and budget expectations on the calendar.