Amazon growth helps area air park

The 7,000 jobs that left Wilmington when DHL announced it was leaving in 2008 haven’t been replaced, but officials at the Clinton County airport southeast of Dayton are optimistic about the future.

Reporter Thomas Gnau reported last week that Atlas Air Worldwide began flying out of the Wilmington Air Park for Amazon, the e-commerce giant that has made Ohio a big location for its business.

The first “Prime Air” flight for Amazon landed at Wilmington Air Park on Wednesday, Atlas Air officials said. It was the inaugural flight of the first of 20 B767-300 converted freighters provided to Amazon to support the expansion of its e-commerce air cargo network.

It’s the second company with connections to the Wilmington airport to sign a contract with Amazon. Amazon has now leased a total of 40 Boeing jets from Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and Air Transport Services Group Inc., Wilmington Air Park’s biggest and busiest tenant.

The job increases have been small with the additions at the air park, but the future looks bright for future expansions.

Sushi anyone?

Three young men from Oakwood keep building their sushi empire in Ohio.

Last week, we reported the owners of Fusian planned to open their 12th fast-casual sushi restaurant in the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek. The chain of restaurants traces its roots in the Dayton area to Oakwood, where founders Stephan Harman and brothers Josh and Zach Weprin were childhood friends.

The three attended Oakwood’s Harman Elementary School and “always talked about going into business together,” Stephan Harman told reporter Mark Fisher in September 2011, just as he and his business associates and friends were poised to open their first area Fusian on Brown Street near the University of Dayton.

New commander

Imagine managing more than a hundred units at a business that has more than 27,000 employees and a $4 billion-plus economic impact on the region.

That’s what Col. Bradley W. McDonald faces at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The new base commander told me last week after just more than 45 days into his new job that he already has met with 3,000 of the approximately 5,500 airmen at Wright-Patterson. His goal is the meet all the airmen and to continue with the other complex units at the 88th Air Base Wing.

McDonald, who most recently was a vice commander of a unit that supports the Air Force Academy, is an Idaho native and was a graduate student at Wright-Patterson.

A marathon runner, McDonald ran his first 26.2-miler at Wright-Patterson’s annual event in September.

He told me he won’t be running in this year’s marathon. That’s probably for the better because he’ll need his stamina overseeing the base in the next two years. He said one of his top goals at the base will be to develop leaders.

Rich Gillette is the Dayton Daily News business editor. Contact him at rich.gillette@coxinc.com or 937-225-0623. Follow him on Twitter @richgillette.

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