 To provide air shows with additional time to plan their events, the United States Navy Blue Angels will move to a two-year scheduling cycle beginning in 2010. Rather than the three to eleven months of advanced notice that air shows have had in the past, air shows will now know 15-23 months ahead of time that the team has committed to perform at a particular show on a particular date. The change was recently approved at the highest levels of the U.S. Navy leadership.
“Much of the feedback we had received from the air show industry was that the air shows in the early part of the season did not have time to plan for advertisements, logistics and sponsorships,” said Commander Greg McWherter, Blue Angels commanding officer and flight leader. “We hope the result of the two-year show schedule will be even higher quality shows that will draw even larger crowds.”
In the initial transition year, the Blue Angels will accept requests for support for both the 2010 and 2011 air show seasons. In December of 2009 at the annual ICAS Convention in Las Vegas, the team will announce both their 2010 and 2011 schedules. Thereafter, the team will release their newest schedule fifteen months before they fly their first show of that season. For example, the team will release their 2012 schedule at the ICAS Convention in December of 2010.
"We expect this to reduce or even eliminate some of the traditional scheduling issues that air shows have faced," said ICAS President John Cudahy. "We expect air shows to have an easier time securing corporate sponsorships. It will improve the effectiveness of each show's marketing efforts. It will even help the shows that don't get on the Blue Angels schedule because they'll now have that information much earlier so that they can pursue alternate plans."
Additional details on the administrative issues related to this new scheduling process will be released within the next few weeks. In the meantime, air shows interested in securing the Blue Angels in either 2010 or 2011 are encouraged to plan on submitting DD Form 2535 to the Navy not later than August 1 of this year.
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