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(Image source: Blue Angels)
BY COLLIN RUANE
Automatic spending cuts have now hit the Navy’s Blue Angels and the Air Force’s Thunderbirds.
The two will cease performances beginning April 1st, and it’s not clear when they
will resume. USA Today reports the cuts will only make a small dent in the overall sequester.
“In a defense budget of more than $500 billion, eliminating the performances will produce
relatively small savings: $28 million for the Angels and nearly $10 million for the
Thunderbirds. … It's not just air shows being canceled.”
Flyovers for military funerals and service academy graduations have also been canceled
from April to September.
The cuts will hit local economies hard. KTBS reports Shreveport, Louisiana’s air show,
featuring the Blue Angels, brings $5 million in revenue each year — a large amount of
income that will not be there this year.
And according to WRTV, the 2013 Indianapolis Air Show was canceled before the sequester
even took place after sponsors dropped out of the show amid fears the Blue Angels would
not be in attendance.
But a writer for Florida Today notes this year’s air show in Cocoa Beach, Florida
will go on as scheduled, even when major headliners could be grounded.
“… even if defense cuts were to permanently ground the Thunderbirds and Navy’s Blue
Angels, the shows would go on … [but] air show organizers will have to become more creative
in order to survive.”
The economic impact overall is complex. Vendors and even those who make uniforms are a part
of what goes into producing air shows.
“… civilian vendors who bid to sell food, beverages and souvenirs at the air shows held
on military bases pay up to 45 percent of their revenue into the Navy’s operation
of such amenities as base movie theaters, bowling alleys and recreational facilities.”
(Via Pensacola News Journal)
“Since we no longer make many regular military uniforms and swimwear, it would account for
about 50 percent of our business.” (Via WALA)
It is still not known if the cuts will affect the 2014 season. If a sequester deal is not
reached, the cuts would remain in effect until 2021.