Watching the Skies: The Lucrative World of the Air Show

A rare opportunity presented itself when I was given the chance as a youngster to attend an air show in Waco, Texas. The event included performances by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds flight demonstration team as well as an appearance by the Concorde supersonic airliner. I even had the chance to see aircraft up close and to visit with pilots and maintenance crews. These memories popped up when I saw a few days ago that Waco will hold its 2018 air show over the first weekend of April. In contemplating a family trip to the show (our 9-year-old twin boys seem to me to be just about the right age for such things), I began to wonder about the economic and political dimensions of air shows. What I found stunned me....