The Columbus Municipal Airport had plans to host an airshow in November, but the aviation board has decided not to hold the event.
Airport director Brian Payne presented plans for a possible Nov. 14 “drive-in airshow” at a special meeting of the board of aviation commissioners on Monday. The board did not make a formal decision during the meeting but were asked to consider the idea, which would have required airport funds. Payne said the board consensus was not to have the event.
Payne said that factors in the decision most likely included timing, concerns about the weather and the amount of airport funds needed to support the event due to lack of sponsorships.
The airport was only able to salvage $6,850 in sponsorship funds from the canceled Aviation Day airshow, he said.
“The visitors’ center has no money to provide whatsoever, nor do I think that they will have money in the next year, so we’re going to have to figure that one out, if we want to host a show in 2021,” Payne said.
Payne said that the airport had planned to sell tickets for 25-foot by 25-foot “social squares” where viewers could park their vehicles and watch the drive-in airshow on Nov. 14. The tentative lineup for the event included both civilian and military airshow acts, as well as a fireworks display hosted by QMix 107.3. The airport also planned to have local restaurants attend to serve food.
Payne said that they were considering selling squares at somewhere around $25 to $50. He noted that at other air shows in the United States, tickets can cost anywhere from $100 to $300.
However, he also acknowledged that there was a risk factor in selling tickets for the event.
“We would pay to go see a show,” he said. “But would the general public? I just don’t know, especially when they’re used to getting it for free.”
David Bush, the board’s Columbus City Council liaison, expressed similar concerns.
“Especially when you can park alongside the road, right near there, and get it for free, I don’t know how much luck we’ll have with getting people to buy into it, especially given … it may be 20 degrees and snowing,” he said.
The airport doesn’t typically ticket its air shows. However, ticket sales would have been needed to help offset the cost of holding the November airshow. Payne estimated that the total price tag for the event would have been around $50,000.
One of the larger costs included in the estimate for the November event was that of booking the Nathan Hammond night air show, including pyrotechnics, for $12,000 (not counting hotel and car rental costs for hosting the act). The tentative airshow budget also included more than $8,000 for a large sound system needed to cover the area of the event.
In addition to the cost, timing was also an obstacle for the event. Commissioner Brad Davis expressed concerns about whether or not seven weeks would be enough time for the airport to raise sponsorships and prepare for the event.
Payne said the Nov. 14 date was chosen because no other airshows in the U.S. were scheduled for that weekend, which would have made more acts available for booking.
If the board had approved the air show, the airport would have had to present the event to the Bartholomew County Health Department for its approval. However, that process is now a moot point, as the event will not be held.
“It was just an idea we had in the office,” Payne said. “Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
