Airport Official Say Event Is 'Too Disruptive' Following Recent Expansion

There will be no air show in 2017 at Chicago Rockford International Airport (KRFD), and the future of the event is not looking promising.

Airport officials have suspended the event "indefinitely," according to are port from the website mystateline.com

In a news release, Mike Dunn, KRFD executive director, said the event, called Rockford AirFest, "has been a part of this community for a decade and we are sad to see it suspended. We are very excited about recent construction projects at RFD and the successful recruitment of new business operations to the airport,” said Mike Dunn, Executive Director of RFD in a news release.  “Several of the new businesses we have recruited have nearly non-stop operations that make it very challenging to close the airport for four days. The traffic congestion incurred by AirFest would put a heavy burden on the operations of new businesses on the airport.  Our priority is to our customers and tenants that use RFD.”

The last time the event was held was in 2015. Last year's AirFest was cancelled because of a scheduling conflict with the U.S. DOD for military aircraft exhibitions, including the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds. The 2017 AirFest had been planned for June 3-4, but officials at the airport said that the recent completion of new facilities for ABX Air Cargo and AAR has made closing the airport down for the event "impractical."

More than 140,000 people attended the event in 2015.

FMI: http://flyrfd.com/