{"id":7883,"date":"2025-10-17T05:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T05:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/7883\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T05:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T05:02:12","slug":"famous-texas-airshow-loses-popular-demo-after-government-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/7883\/","title":{"rendered":"Famous Texas airshow loses popular demo after government shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The iconic Wings over Houston airshow returns this weekend, but not quite as fans know it. For the first time in years, the skies over Ellington Airport<\/a> will miss the thunder of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, sidelined by the ongoing federal government shutdown.<\/a><\/p>\n

The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, paused funding for non-essential military activities<\/a>, including airshows and flight demonstrations. Still, organizers say the show must and will go on.<\/p>\n

“Yes, unfortunately, with the government shut down<\/a>, the Thunderbirds will not be able to attend,” Chris\u00a0Bowker, spokesperson for Wings over Houston, told Chron. “But the Wings Over Houston team works year-round to create an awesome event for Houston that includes much more than the featured jet team.”<\/p>\n

The Thunderbirds’ cancellation in Houston mirrors changes at other airshows nationwide. The Pacific Airshow in California lost all U.S. military acts due to the shutdown, while the Blue Angels pulled out of Fleet Week in San Francisco and the Salinas Airshow. Atlanta’s airshow also went on without the Thunderbirds.<\/p>\n

Now in its 41st year, the two-day event-set for Oct. 18-19 at Ellington-is leaning on a deep lineup of civilian performers, vintage warbirds, and an airshow first: a fully choreographed flight demonstration by a commercial United Airlines<\/a> jet. The 12-minute in-air routine will be performed by a Boeing 77, in tribute to four decades of\u00a0military aviation innovation. According to United, it’s the only U.S. commercial airline currently approved to perform a fully choreographed airshow demo.<\/p>\n

In addition to the aerial display, United is also bringing a static Boeing 737<\/a> to the tarmac, where visitors can interact with crew members, recruiters, and veterans involved in the airline’s internal support programs. Career pathway exhibits will spotlight opportunities in commercial aviation for the next generation of pilots, technicians, and flight crew.<\/p>\n

Inside the gates, aviation fans can also see the only two airworthy B-29 Superfortresses flying together in what organizers call a rare and moving World War II tribute. Fan favorites like the RE\/MAX Skydiving Team and the explosive “Tora! Tora! Tora!” Pearl Harbor reenactments are also scheduled to return.<\/p>\n

To offset the loss of the Thunderbirds, Wings Over Houston is offering a “Jet Team Guarantee”: any ticket purchased for this year’s event comes with a free general admission ticket to the 2026 show.<\/p>\n

The event runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Along with aerial performances, attendees can explore dozens of aircraft on static display, browse aviation vendors, and take part in interactive exhibits for all ages.<\/p>\n

More details and ticket information are available at the\u00a0Wings Over Houston website.<\/a><\/p>\n

More News<\/p>\n

Education | Texas A&M suspends fraternity amid hazing reports<\/a>
Mystery | Houstonians fear a serial killer is dumping bodies in a bayou<\/a>
Business | AI megaproject launches in Texas <\/a>
Politics | District Clerk lays off employees-then votes herself $81K raise<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Famous Texas airshow loses popular demo after government shutdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The iconic Wings over Houston airshow returns this weekend, but not quite as fans know it. For the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7615,5444,6424,1857,27,29,28,2825,7616],"class_list":["post-7883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-air-force-thunderbirds","tag-airshow","tag-ellington-airport","tag-government-shutdown","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-united-airlines","tag-wings-over-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}