Holiday travel up at Wilmington International Airport

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — As this year’s three day 4th of July weekend comes to a close, visitors who spent their holiday in the Cape Fear are heading home.

WWAY spoke to travelers visiting from Michigan, Washington, DC, Virginia, and Philadelphia. All were getting ready to fly home, boarding flights at Wilmington International Airport.

With the overall number of COVID-19 cases down, nearly 50 million people across the country were expected to travel this weekend. Many of those were taking flight for the first time since the pandemic began.

“Definitely very busy, I hadn’t flown in a little while but it was very busy,” said Fleet Wallace from DC. “A lot of people in Dulles Airport coming down here.”

ILM recently released statistics showing June passenger counts were at 95-99 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

Airport deputy director Gary Broughton expects 4th of July travel to exceed that of 2019.

Official numbers are expected to be released on Tuesday.