Holiday travel through ILM airport amid record breaking travel numbers

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Expect lines at the airport and traffic on the roads as people travel for Thanksgiving.

AAA is predicting the largest number of flyers this holiday since 2005.

Airport officials say the biggest rush at Wilmington International Airport is around 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. each day, and they expect their busiest day overall for the holiday to be on Sunday when families are returning home.

Recent improvements at the airport should help with the higher volume of passengers traveling in and out of Wilmington. These include more TSA security checkpoint lanes with some new and improved technology, and a new economy parking lot with 500 spaces.

Last month, ILM broke its annual record number of travelers.

“So, every month pretty much this year we’ve had record breaking numbers, and already just January through October we hit our annual record. We had over 1.1 million travelers come through ILM and the year is not even done yet, so we know we are going to smash our record we held before,” Erin McNally, marketing, air service development and PR manager for ILM, said.

As those numbers continue to increase here in the Port City, airport officials want you to keep some things in mind if you are flying this holiday season.

“We encourage travelers to get to the airport early and arrive at least two hours before your flight to allow plenty of time to find parking and get through TSA security. Please check parking availability before you come, you have more choices to park now at ILM,” McNally said.

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