The organizer of the Pacific Airshow and the city of Huntington Beach have settled a lawsuit following disputes about the city canceling the seaside show’s last day in 2021 after an oil spill was reported offshore.
According to the settlement agreement reached on Tuesday, May 9, the city will pay Pacific Airshow LLC nearly $5 million, along with up to $2 million of any related funds the city recovers in its ongoing lawsuit against Amplify Energy Corp., which owns the pipeline that leaked nearly 25,000 gallons from a crack. The third day of the airshow was canceled.
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Mayor Tony Strickland said it is “absolutely essential” to keep the airshow in town. “I’m just super excited we came to this agreement,” he said, “hopefully we will have this event in perpetuity in our city. This is just such a great economic impact for our city.”
The two sides have also come to resolution after clashing last year when city officials opted to not help offset operational costs incurred for the airshow with increased parking revenue, as was agreed on in previous years, said Pacific Airshow’s Executive Director Kevin Elliott.
At the time, Elliott acknowledged that the event’s cost is ultimately his burden as a private event, but said he would have to “decide if it’s something that we can navigate or is it something I want to throw the towel in on.”
In November, a new council majority was elected onto the dais.
According to the lawsuit’s summary, the city will discharge $195,000 that the Pacific Airshow owed related to the 2021 event, and will refund the $149,200 in fees already paid for last year’s event in the form of a credit.
While the event also ran into permitting problems last year for a beach concert, “generally speaking the airshow piece was excellent,” Elliot, who started his event productions company Code 4 in 2007, said of last year’s event.
“We had the big election, the new majority council has been engaged and campaigned to save the airshow,” he said. “From our side, we’ve continued to remain optimistic we would find a resolution and fortunately that has happened.”
Visit Huntington Beach conducted a study through Destination Analysts that indicated nearly $70.4 million in direct spending occurred last year in the city due to the event, with $120 million in total economic impact.
“In a time when every dollar counts, you don’t want to see an event like this go away,” Elliot said. “From a marketing benefit, this is absolutely gold. It’s a marketing machine and Huntington Beach gets the benefit of that.”
The study also said the event helps support 1,202 jobs, Strickland said. Of the estimated 700,000 attendees that show up, an estimated 500,000 are from out of town and 91% come back to Huntington Beach, it found.
“When you look at an event like that, those are astronomical numbers,” Strickland said. “It’s a great family friendly event. It’s the No. 1 airshow in the United States. It gives us notoriety internationally, and shows other people we can handle more events like the airshow.”
The airshow debuted in 2016 and became the most attended airshow in the United States – the sand along the beach offering a huge stadium space for spectators to land in to watch the show over the ocean. Boaters dot the sea and locals set out lounge chairs in front yards and on rooftops to watch the planes flying by.
Details of this year’s upcoming event were also released this week.
The three-day event will return to Surf City on Sept. 29 through Oct. 1, with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and Canadian Forces Snowbirds headlining.
New this year will the the F-22 Raptor Demonstration team, joining dozens of other military and civilian aviators from around the world.
This year’s event will feature an even larger general admission area – stretching nearly 1 mile from the Huntington Beach Pier to Beach Boulevard.
For the first time, Pacific Airshow Gold Coast is happening Aug. 18 to 20 in Australia, making it the only airshow in the world to have two editions in two countries. Representatives from Australia were in Huntington Beach last year checking out the event.
