ABOVE PHOTO: Stephen D. Williams (Photo/Shutterstock)
By Kharisma McIlwaine
Philadelphia has always been a major hub for domestic and international travel. What many people in the tri-state area may not realize is that easy and accessible travel is also available in Delaware. Wilmington Delaware Airport (ILG) located at 151 N. Dupont Highway in New Castle — offers customers additional travel options at affordable prices.
Stephen D. Williams, deputy executive director of the Delaware River & Bay Authority and airport director for ILG, has been at the forefront of implementing policies and changes that are improving travel experiences for customers in Delaware and the tri-state area. Williams spoke to the SUN about his 40-year tenure in aviation and transportation and the importance of providing and expanding travel options in Delaware.
Williams’ love of aviation and travel was a direct result of growing up near JFK Airport in New York City.
“I think from a very early age, I was fascinated with aviation and the promise of aviation,” Williams said. “At first I was an amateur photographer of airplanes. Right after high school, I went to work at the airport in a part-time job. This was the era of the creation of the 747. I learned to fly right after I left high school and started working in the transportation field. My journey is about transport in general, but aviation in particular. Like many airport people these days, my original goal was to become a commercial pilot, but I actually discovered that I like airports just as much.”
Williams is the third deputy executive director of the Delaware River & Bay Authority (DRBA) in DRBA history. As DRBA’s deputy executive director and airport director for ILG, Williams wears many hats.
“I have oversight of all economic development,” Williams said. “Included here are communication, marketing, public information and governance issues. I also serve as secretary of the board. As airport director, I have the five airports that DRB operates – two in New Jersey and three here in Delaware. That really just includes growth and access for people in the aviation industry, people who own airplanes, people who partner with us and those in the civil defense part of the business, meaning the Air National Guard or the military.”
“We also accommodate VIP jets,” added Williams. “As you know, Wilmington is the president’s (Joe Biden) home airport, and he’s often at home. There are also things related to what we call our outreach goals, which is air service development, cargo development, and things that create jobs and create economic impact for the community. So the airports and what I do on behalf of the authority is to create opportunities for economic impact and growth. In the Delaware sense, that translates into jobs, access to transportation and creating what I call quality of life metrics.”
“When I came to work in Delaware in 2005, it struck me that part of what was missing was access to air transportation and people not traveling to Pennsylvania, Maryland or New Jersey,” Williams said. “That was something, if we had it available in Delaware, we would do it [the] the quality of life is much better here. So those were my number one and number two items on my list of things to do here.”
Williams’ love of aviation, coupled with his 40-year career in the field, gave him a unique perspective on why accessibility for all is so necessary.
“I work hard to make aviation and air travel accessible to the common man and woman,” he said. “When I was younger, the thought of traveling to foreign countries and traveling by plane was a big deal. I remember when I was 9 years old, my mom made me wear a suit and tie to fly on a plane to the same place I just had. [flown] – Caribbean. [In] in those days, aviation was not accessible to everyone in the same way that Greyhound buses were at the time. What has happened is that you look at how transportation and how air service has evolved. Due to the deregulated environment and lack of government control on the economic side, it has become accessible to all. It has exponentially increased the number of people traveling and made airports focus on providing customer service. It’s made careers for people like me trying to match those two things — trying to match the airline with the airport environment and make the travel experience better for everyone overall.”
One of the ways Williams is helping to make air travel more accessible and affordable is through ILG’s partnership with Avelo Airlines.
“The airline is partnering with us — we both have a vested interest in making this work,” Williams said. “That’s what you see in terms of effort, cooperation, community involvement, and we’re going to continue to do things to make sure the greater Wilmington community gets to know this as their hometown airport. Avelo has also been great at offering special codes.”
Currently, Avelo Airlines offers nonstop service from Wilmington to five Florida destinations, which include: Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Fort Myers.
“What the airline will likely want to do is build on that by adding more non-stop flights,” Williams said. “At the moment, there are about two flights a day to different destinations. So what we’re hoping you’ll see is them adding more daily frequencies to various destinations and maybe adding non-Florida non-stop cities for the first time, like Chicago, Nashville, Myrtle Beach, Charleston and cities that the region big wants to travel. .”
“We know the people are here, we know the density is here, we know the per capita income is here, we know the propensity to travel is here,” he said. “We needed to match all of that with the airlines that wanted to be here, that would go to the places that Delawareans wanted to go.”
To learn more information about Wilmington Airport (ILG) and see what specials are available, visit: www.flyilg.com and www.aveloair.com.
