(The numbers are in)...The recent Air Show did better than expected.

Officials at the Naval Air Facility El Centro anticipated a crowd of about 6,00. It was the first Air Show before a live crowd since the pandemic began in 2020. It turns out around 10,000 attended the event, 4,000 more than anticipated. The numbers were comparable to air shows held pre-pandemic. The air show, now called a Festival of Flight, marks the traditional end to the Navy Flight Demonstration Team, The Blue Angels, winter training in Imperial County, and at the same time, marks the beginning of the team's new touring schedule for the year. NAF officials are currently pulling apart the recent show, to see what went wrong and what went right, in order to organize an even better Festival of Flight next year.