TRAVERSE CITY — The annual air show over West Grand Traverse Bay is one of the highlights of the National Cherry Festival. Now local officials are considering modifications to the air show to reduce the impact on travelers — and airlines — at the fast-growing Cherry Capital Airport, also known as TVC.
“I want to be very clear that we are not against the air show and we aren’t trying to shut it down,” said TVC Director Kevin Klein. “Our challenge is to reduce the impact on our flight operations, especially during the high-performance aircraft times of the air show.”
The 2024 Cherry Festival is scheduled for June 29 — July 6, when it will celebrate its 98th anniversary.
The air show portion of the festival is scheduled for Saturday, June 29, and Sunday, June 30, from 1-4 p.m. on both days.
Once again in 2024, the U.S. Navy “Blue Angels” are scheduled to perform on both days starting about 3 p.m. The Blue Angels fly F/A-18 Hornets, alternating between a four-plane diamond formation and solo acrobatics.
Other high-performance aircraft, such as A-10s, F-15s and F-22s, have also performed at the air show in recent years.
Currently, federal aviation rules require a 5-nautical-mile radius or “safety bubble” from the air show’s official “center point” during flights by high-performance airplanes, such as military jets. The center point for the air show is the Coast Guard ship anchored in West Grand Traverse Bay on those days.
Because Cherry Capital Airport is just 2.1 miles from that center point, commercial airline flights must halt at that time for safety reasons. (Slower, prop-driven aircraft that perform at the air show do not require the same 5-mile safety zone.)
In the past, when fewer flights were landing at TVC, the disruption was less onerous. But times have changed.
Passenger traffic at TVC has increased dramatically in recent years, hitting an all-time high of 700,699 in 2023. That surpassed the 2022 total of 582,908 by more than 20 percent.
To put that growth into perspective, TVC accounted for one-third of the state’s entire passenger growth in 2023, even though other Michigan airports are much larger in size, said County Commissioner Darryl Nelson, who sits on the airport authority board.
Not surprisingly, mid-summer is the peak travel season at TVC with more than 60 take-offs and landings per day. Canceling or delaying commercial flights out of Traverse City can cause a “domino effect” for air travel, said Steve Plamondon, who chairs the airport authority board.
“We don’t want people to miss their connections or force them to reschedule flights because of the air show,” he said. “We also love the air show, but we have to balance that against the essential need for safety and the needs of the traveling public.”
One possible solution under consideration is to schedule slower aircraft at the beginning of the air show, and then compress the time window for high-performance jets.
At a recent airport authority board meeting, officials decided to form a four-person task force to explore air show “de-conflicting” options. Members include Klein and Plamondon of the airport authority, plus Kat Paye, executive director of the National Cherry Festival, and Mike Meindertsma, president of the Cherry Festival Foundation.
“We have a wonderful relationship with the Cherry Capital Airport and I’m very hopeful we can reach a mutually acceptable solution,” Paye said.
Ultimately, public safety is the highest priority, Nelson said.
“No one likes the air show more than me … and my dad was past president of the Cherry Festival. I grew up watching the air show and I want that tradition to continue — as long as we address the other realities on the table.”
The task force hopes to reach an agreement for the 2024 air show by its next meeting on March 12, Plamondon said. Then they’ll work on a longer, three-year plan to build on that progress.