How do the economics of airshows work out?

Factual Questions
1

Okay, so I’m going to be horribly stereotypical here but my understanding of a typical air show is as follows:

  1. Dozens of aircraft with a combined cost approaching one billion dollars and operationals costs into the tens of thousands of dollars per hour fly around, do some cool stuff, and crash with depressing regularity (ooo, hope you were paying for Collision on that Harrier)

  2. About a thousand hicks lay out lawn chairs with Miller High Life in double-fisting beer cozy arrangement along the taxi-area of the airport and exclaim, “yeeeaaah buddy!!!” at appropriate intervals.

What am I missing?

How in the hell do air shows get paid for? Why would the military willingly waste their budgets on entertaining people for free? Why would private owners do the same thing? Do people pay admission tickets? Can these possibly cover the operational costs?

Basically, how do the economics of typical air shows work out?

Thanks,
threemae

2

Well, I don’t think people enter car shows to make money, it’s just a hobby for the civs.

As for military aircraft, I paid for the damn things, I should get to see them in action! In truth, it probably doesn’t hurt recruiting either.

And do you have any stats to back up your claim that there are a lot of crashes at air shows? I’ve seen a few notables on the internet, but considering there are airshows world wide, and some of the clips might be decades old, not sure if there are crashes with any degree of regularity.

3

Everyone’s in it for their own reasons. The military does it because it is great PR. A Blue Angels routine gets 50,000 to half a million people going home thinking happy thoughts about the U.S. Navy. Plus, it raises esprit de corps within the Navy itself, and raises pilot effectiveness and training (lots of pilots transition through these teams, pick up new skills and precision, then go back to their own squadrons and spread it around).

The other pilots are in it because they love to fly and will do so for barely enough money to cover their operating costs.

The promoters do it because it makes them lots of money. We’re not talking about ‘about a thousand hicks’ - not a show that brings in good acts and a strong military presence. Typical airshow audiences are well over 50,000, and often much, much bigger. Hit them for $10 admission, get them for another $20 at the concession stands, and you’re doing all right. Some of the bigger airshows can have 200,000 to 500,000 people per day, and run two or three days.

In some cases, like the Reno Air Races, the EAA convention airshow, and the military airshows like Farnborough, the other motivation is to sell stuff to pilots and governments. Aircraft and aviation product companies spend big bucks to lease space at these airshows, and they do a booming business.

4

Really, I had no idea that the shows were that large. Perhaps that’s what I was missing, but I just didn’t get the idea that the crowds were that big from footage I had seen.

5

Part of the reason the crowds don’t seem that large is because they tend to spread out. An airshow doesn’t require everyone to be bunched close together.

The annual Chicago Air and Water Show has an attendence of 2,000,000+ That’s estimated because they don’t charge admission. It also doesn’t include folks like me who go hang out at the airport all this hardware is taking off and landing at, which is actually located in Indiana. They do soak you on the food and beverages. The military always has at least one recruiting booth on hand. It’s PR and new enlistees for them.

Someone like Sean Tucker - that’s a really impressive aerobatic pilot for those of you who don’t know - has corporate sponsors that pay for his plane. The Red Baron squadron is supported by Red Baron pizza.

For the city of Chicago it’s bread and circuses, and PR. But since the viewing beach is there anyway the cost to the city for this party is relatively low. Ditto for Gary, Indiana, whose airshow features similar acts, military recruiting, is also free, and feature high-priced concessions. Gary’s show has lower attendence figures, but they’re still in the 6 digits. (It also happens to be this weekend)

Also this weekend is another, very much smaller airshow I’m planning to go to, the Morris Illinois Skyfest. That one has an admission price to support the show, but at $10/head it’s comparable to a movie and lasts longer. And yes, they’ll charge for food and beverages, too. I don’t know if the city subsidizes it or not. The acts at such shows tend to be smaller and more local, although sometimes bigger names will be seen in these shows. Sometimes, they’ll get local businesses to chip in, too. For the smaller shows it’s about promoting an airport, promoting a flight school at the airport, PR for the airport with the locals, and it’s a way for tomorrow’s big air show stars to get started on the circuit. It’s not unusual for them to offer airplane rides (something the big shows don’t do) for either amusement and/or charitable fund-raising.

There are events sponsored by the “alphabets” - EAA, AOPA, others - that are geared to be by and for pilots or people in the industry. It’s a lot about selling stuff in the aviation industry, as well as having a good time. EAA’s big event up in Oshkosh this year - the admission fee was what, $50 a head? And the food is notoriously overpriced. BRING MONEY. But they don’t just sell av fuel and engine oil there, manufactuers sell entire airplanes at that show so yeah, it’s not just the host organization making money.

Finally, my husband’s radio control aircraft club has a “neighborhood appreciation day” every year, which is an RC model show and they give away food and souvenirs to the locals. Only costs a couple hundred bucks and helps make the neighbors more tolerate of the noise and lets them meet those strange men that hang around the field every weekend. Strictly PR in that case.

Airshow crashes are not common - just very well publicized. In the US, there are stricter regulations about distance from the crowd, which helps keep the innocent bystander injury rate low.

Some shows make money, some break even, some are put on for PR and accepted as an expense.

6

Crashes may be rare, but they’re expensive when they happen. Which in turn drives up insurance costs for the host airfield. I live a few miles from North Weald which used to have a couple of air shows a year. About 5 years ago the local council who own the airfield said insurance was way too high and the shows stopped. They now have fly-ins instead where you can go and see the planes on the ground and watch them land, but no funky stuff.
I miss the airshows as I used to sit in my garden and watch it without having to queue and pay a huge amount for beer.

7

The local airshow (City of 50,000, probabaly another 50,000 withing 30 miles) had a attendance of 7,000 this year (compared to 14,000 last year). Mostly beacsue this year they didn’t have a marquee act like Blue Angels or Thunderbirds.
It sounds like they lost money.

Note that airshow performers are typicaly “paid” with free avgas and maybe stipend beyond that.

Brian

8

When I saw the Red Arrows fly at St Angelo’s Airport here in Northern Ireland, they had a mixture of enthusiasts who had restored old aircraft for practical uses (like a Dutch crew who flew a Catalina) private owners with jets they liked flying themselves and the Red Arrows accompanied by a recruitment van from the RAF. The crowd (which seemed at best guestimate to be in the hundreds) were sold the usual expensive fliers and refreshments. The economics seem barely there but must exist in some way or else it wouldn’t happen.

9

I’ve been going to airshows all my life. I’ve seen two crashes. (Not counting Bill Barnes – son of ‘Pancho’ Barnes – whose smoke I saw as i was on my way to the airport to film his practice fly-by. Mechanical failure on that one.) Both of the crashes I saw were at MCAS El Toro. The first was an F/A-18 where the pilot (commander of MAW-3) pulled up too quickly for a loop and lost energy and stalled at the top. The second was a couple of years later when a civilian MiG pilot fatally crashed at the end of a loop.

So I’ve seen two crashes in 30 years. And there have been others of course. But I wouldn’t say they happen with any regularity. Given the number of airshows that happen throughout the world in any given year, there will be the occasional crash; but generally they seem to be pretty safe. After all, if I were flying a million-dollar warbird I’d be very sure to observe all safety precautions.

10

There’s also the fact that it’s still flying hours for the aircrew, and “quality” flying time at that, with regards to training (formation flying requires practice anyway).

The argument is similar to the one used in reply when people here say, “Hey, the Royal Australian Navy just spent $X million rescuing an idiot round-the-world solo sailor when he capsized in the Southern Ocean”! As a taxpayer, I’m outraged!" The reply is, “Well, in peace time, the RAN generally just cruises about the place doing seemingly F— all anyway, but it’s all good training for the ships’ crews, and this specific rescue mission is excellent training.” A similar sort of thing to the airshows, in my mind.

11

This is not true.

There are a few aerobatic competition pilots who will occasionally do a show for free. New perfomers trying to break into the buisness might initially charge only enough to cover thier expenses (which are huge). Aershow crowds want to see smoke and hear noise. To put on a good show performers need to stay low and close. It takes lots and lots of practice and dedication to do so and have much life expectancy.

Low altituded aerbatics require an FAA “Stement of acrobatic competency” (AKA acro card).

Fees of several thousand to over ten thousand dollars for a weekend show are typical for well known acts. Seems a lot unless you are aware of all the expenses of capitalizing and maintaing the aircraft, travel time, pyrotechnics, maintaing ratings, etc. etc.

cite . Bob is probably in the top 20-30 acts nationally, certainly in the top 50, but probably not in the top 10.

12

Well then airshow announcers lie (“these folks are only doing it for the gas”)

(I don’t remeber which airshow I heard that at, either the local one or EAA Oshkosh)

Brian

13

Doesn’t really matter, it’s just for the amusement of beer drinking hicks, anyway. :rolleyes:

14

All those numbers for attendance… Are those just the people buying tickets, or all the folks who watch? An airshow inherently tends to be visible from a significant distance, and there are always a lot of folks who set up in parking lots and backyards just outside the area where you have to pay to get in. They might be paying something to the folks who own the parking lot, but they’re not paying a dime to the show’s organizers.

15

Don’t take it personally, I was just trying to put some humor into the OP. I woul be interested in making it to an airshow myself in the near future. I was just trying to figure out how the economics of an airshow worked out and I think I’ve gotten a pretty good idea from this thread.

Broomstick, those numbers are absolutely astounding. These events are much, much, larger than my initial guesses.

16

Just to blea cleat, I’m not doubting Kevbo’s cite.
It is possible I misheard the announcer, or that the announcer was talking about the current performer and not performers in general. I could definitely see a performer doing EAA Oshkosh just for the publicity (and free tickets)

The attendance figure I cited was paid attendance – there indeed lots of people who watch from boats in the water, across the rivers (the airport is on an island), and nearby yards.
Brian

17

I can believe that they might well be able to have enough free offers at Oshkosh to fill an entire show.

Oshkosh would still be the largest aviation event in the country with no show at all. The quality and crowd appeal of the acts matters not all…so if there are so-so acts willing to fly for gas money, why not give them thier 15 minutes of fame?

And not that the acts are necisarly lacking…most of the crowd at oshkosh are aviation savy. A good pilot doing extremlly precise manuvers will impress, while a layman will only notice that thier engine doesn’t sound very loud, and why don’t they have smoke?

18

The Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds are basically recruiting tools. In fact, it is for that very reason that the two teams are prohibited from flying near one another. (I recall a Navy Times article years ago which explained this, to include an actual distance that the teams had to stay away from each other. I’m assuming that since they play an annual softball tournament, the restriction only applies to the planes :wink: )

Recruiting has to be a huge consideration for all the other services who participate as well.

I just had a front row seat working the zone at the Chicago Air & Water show two weeks ago. Due to cloud cover, we got the low altitude show, which really kicks ass. All them pilots are impressive, but the Blue Angels absolutely rocked.