WILMINGTON — The Amazon story in Wilmington has been a roller coaster ride over the last two years, with ups, then downs — and now what appears to be a big upside, only this time, hopefully, with no downturns.
In March 2016, Wilmington-based Air Transport Services Group, Inc. announced agreements with Amazon Fulfillment Services, Inc., an affiliate of Amazon.com, Inc., to operate an air cargo network to serve Amazon customers in the United States.
The announcement ended months of speculation about such a deal at the Wilmington Air Park.
The number of additional local jobs during what was termed a five-year agreement was unclear at that point for the project that had been code-named “Aerosmith.”
“We expect that the aircraft assets and other resources we are providing in support of this Amazon network will continue to benefit the local and regional economy here in Ohio,” President and CEO of ATSG Joe Hete told the News Journal in a written statement in early 2016. “The actual impacts on employment and regional investment will depend on Amazon’s plans.”
It began with a trial network, referred to as “Project Aerosmith,” carried out in Wilmington in secret, and with the Wilmington Air Park’s history as the former site of DHL’s air freight business.
It was announced in 2016 that the commercial agreements would include: the leasing of 20 Boeing 767 freighter aircraft to Amazon Fulfillment Services Inc. by ATSG’s Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM); the operation of the aircraft by ATSG’s airlines, ABX Air and Air Transport International; and gateway and logistics services provided by ATSG’s LGSTX Services, according to a press release. The duration of the 20 leases were to be five to seven years; the agreement covering operation of the aircraft will be for five years.
Going south
About a year later, in February 2017, Amazon announced it would invest more than $1.4 billion in a new air cargo hub for its Prime Air service at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
They announced that the fleet of 40 leased cargo jets then based in Wilmington were expected to be on the move to the new hub beginning in April 2017 — with the new CVG hub expected to mean 2,700 jobs for Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky.
Then-Clinton County Business and Economic Development Director Bret Dixon said Amazon officials indicated they were looking for an option that would get them to their goal fast. They used the expression “plug and play,” Dixon said.
It had always been Amazon’s desire to run its own sorting facility, added Dixon.
Dixon said then that he was disappointed by the choice of CVG, but he and other local officials would continue to work with Amazon.
Though CVG is in Kentucky, Dixon said in 2017 that the State of Ohio “was fully engaged” on the possibility of the hub being located here.
“We did everything we could proactively,” Dixon added.
He said the State of Ohio appeared to have been “blindsided” by that 2017 announcement.
Bright future
Despite Amazon’s 2017 announcement, officials in Clinton County said then that they foresaw a bright future for the Wilmington Air Park and for the Clinton County economy — even though Amazon would end its air cargo pilot project here and sink $1.4 billion and 2,700 jobs into the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
A press release from Amazon lat year stated, “As we considered places for the long-term home for our air hub operations, Hebron [site of CVG] quickly rose to the top of the list with a large, skilled workforce, centralized location with great connectivity to our nearby fulfillment locations, and an excellent quality of living for employees,” said Dave Clark, Amazon Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations. “We feel strongly that with these qualities as a place to do business, our investments will support Amazon and customers well into the future.”
Public reaction
After Amazon’s announcement that they were leaving Wilmington in 2017, many frustrated, if not angry, commenters on the News Journal’s Facebook page and at wnewsj.com had questioned whether local and state authorities did enough to lure Amazon here for the long haul.
“We jumped through hoops to get things up and running here for Amazon and performed well on the service end, he said of the pilot project. “Of course we were all under confidentiality agreements, but I have confidence the state put forward a good proposal to Amazon.
“Reports are that Amazon is going to spend $1.4 billion, and if Kentucky is offering $40 million in incentives, that’s a small percentage, so I have to think that much of the reason is due to Cincinnati’s current cargo operations,” Hete added. “People will always speculate about why we didn’t get it; I’m not sure what ruled the day.”
Direct impact
Hete said then that the biggest immediate disappointment is having to tell about 300 employees, primarily cargo handlers, that they would be losing their jobs. He said most of those employees are full-time.
Dan Evers, executive director of the Clinton County Port Authority, said then that he was proud of the effort that went into trying to land Amazon long-term; he said it was a strong collaborative effort that included ATSG, the Port Authority, city, county and state officials, JobsOhio and the Dayton Development Coalition.
