Excited for the Hampton Roads Air Show this year?
Well, it’s cancelled
Joint Base Langley-Eustis rescheduled the air show in May to the summer of 2022.
“Historically, JBLE has been the proud hosts of bi-annual air shows for the community,” according to the JBLE’s news release. “However, due to the installation’s current high operational tempo, scheduling conflicts and a lack of available aerial demonstration teams, the 1st Fighter Wing and 633d Air Base Wing senior leadership determined it was in the best interest of both Langley and our community partners to postpone the show.”
The last Hampton Roads Air Show was in May 2018.
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WYDaily spoke with Michael Reeves, chief of media operations for the 633d Air Base Wing, about the reasons for rescheduling the air show.
Reeves responded to the questions in an email and defined high operational tempo as the base’s day-to-day operations, missions and overall operations to improve readiness, modernization and build a more resilient team.
He said the scheduling conflicts included the aerial teams supporting nearby air shows.
“Support is determined by higher headquarters on a priority basis to include when teams last visited the local area,” Reeves wrote in an email. “Currently, there are air shows being hosted for that same weekend at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina and at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.”
Reeves said there is no set number of demonstration teams needed to support an air show.
“This year’s show rescheduling decision was made after numerous discussions addressing the best use of resources, community partner support and overall aerial acts available to provide a show that truly reflects JBLE,” Reeves added.
In the JBLE news release, Col. Clint Ross said the base looks forward to the summer 2022 event showcasing the world’s greatest air force and hardworking JBLE team members.
“This was not an easy decision for us to make, nor was it made lightly,” Ross said. “But after considering all options and available resources, we felt it was the right thing to do.”
Ross was not immediately available for further comment.
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