A Normal AirVenture For 2021? Don’t Count On It

COVID-19 vaccine or not, aviation events for 2021 are by no means assured and EAA’s Jack Pelton says planning for AirVenture continues to be “a high wire act.” This week, organizers of the Paris airshow announced that the June event has been canceled and at least one show planned for January 2021, the Deland Sport Aviation Showcase, has now been moved back to November. Pelton says EAA continues to examine contingencies for AirVenture but warns that people should be prepared for a very different show. Public health officials, including the CDC and NIAID, are advising that large crowd events might not be practical until late in the summer or end of the year.

If a vaccine is available and widely deployed and COVID-19 cases are in sharp decline, AirVenture could be close to normal, Pelton told us in this exclusive vodcast recorded this week. “What we’re doing from a planning standpoint today is that it won’t be normal. We’re assuming there’s going to be a smaller crowd. We’re looking venue by venue to see what we cannot do to be safe. Theater in the woods would look at distancing, we’re looking at masks, we’re looking at taking exhibitors out of the hangars and putting them in outside exhibits,” Pelton said. “There’s certain parts on the grounds where there’s congestion. We’re looking at ways to either minimize the crowds or do away with those particular venues. I know so much of this depends on people’s personal behavior,” he added.

EAA is also in contact with major sports teams, specifically the Green Bay Packers, to learn what they’re planning and doing for events in 2021 if COVID-19 is still a factor. It’s also talking to two nationally known sanitization products companies about how to provide anti-virus protection and cleaning for high-touch surfaces. Much of what happens next depends on events beyond EAA’s control. “A couple of things need to happen. We’ve got to get the curves at least turned in the correct direction in the coming months because even with the vaccine, if we’re having these enormous numbers of deaths, that’s not going to bode well for a July event,” Pelton said.

Critical decision making will happen in the first or second week of May. “To have the event period, whether it’s go or no go, that needs to happen at the beginning of May time frame. After the beginning of May, we start writing pretty big checks that we can’t recover,” he said. EAA is also contacting volunteers, exhibitors and members to poll sentiments on going forward. In August, EAA returned to office operations in Oshkosh, with COVID-19 risk mitigations in place. The museum is open, but isn’t hosting large school groups and high-touch areas are limited. The association is planning more virtual events for the coming months.

“When it comes to decision time, a lot of it will be personal choice. We do believe it will be a 50-50 coin toss on how people make that decision. There are some people … they aren’t wearing masks … others are more concerned and taking adequate precautions and following the guidelines. How you translate that into who’s going to show up and who isn’t is hard to say,” Pelton said.