Future of the Thunder Over Buffalo Air Show

[John Jarosz]

One of the good discussions at yesterday's meeting concerned this year's Air Show over the Buffalo Waterfront. Personally, I like to walk right up to the aircraft on the tarmacs. Not this year. More unfortunate was that it coincided with the musky opener, bass opener and part of the Southtowns Walleye Derby, in addition to the closing of launch ramps.

Here's an article that gives a hint that the topic is under discussion and some probable contacts:

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/buffalo/buffalo-waterfront-...

[Stephen Glassic]

Looks like the money will dictate whether or not they do it in the future.

COVID-19 may have lingering effects on our lives for a long time.

The National Warplane Museum in Geneseo Airshow is planned for July 10-11 is planning a Drive in style format with hefty ticket prices ranging from $40 to $150 per day. It is mostly vintage aircraft. It looks like there might be limited access to planes and pilots. Normally in past shows, you could pay a hefty fee for a ride on certain planes.

[John Jarosz]

It's too bad if money makes the only decision. From what I've read the 2018 Niagara Falls Airshow expected a crowd between 40,000 and 50,000. I don't know what the exact attendance was though but I doubt there were 40,000 watching this year's show.

I also saw that there were almost 40 planes on static display in 2018 and not having that, I think, loses much of the incentive to attend a show. I prefer to have both, that is being able to walk up to a plane & look around and being able to watch an airshow.