Good news! Atlantic City will have an airshow this summer after all

✈️ The Atlantic City airshow was on pause for 2025

✈️ The Visit Atlantic City Soar & Shore Festival will have a new sponsor

✈️ Indoor concerts will take place at Boardwalk Hall

The saga of an airshow at the Jersey Shore this summer took another turn with the return of the Atlantic City Airshow.

The Visit Atlantic City Soar & Shore Festival will take off on Tuesday, July 15, and Wednesday, July 16. It will be a joint venture between VisitAC and the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.

Tuesday will be a practice day with the actual show on Wednesday.  Herb Gillen Airshows, which produces shows around the country, is behind the free Atlantic City show.

The festival was announced Tuesday by Eric Scheffler, executive director of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. Scheffler told Harry Hurley of  Townsquare Media's WPG Talk Radio that the festival has a budget of $750,000, which includes four indoor concerts at the James Whelan Boardwalk Hall.

VisitAC CEO Gary Musich told Hurley that it will be a rebuilding year for Atlantic City's airshow and it will not have a headline performer like the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds.

"It will be a smaller show, with the goal to build this back over the next few years to what the show was before," Musich told Hurley.

The concert lineup and other events are yet to be announced.

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The financial impact of the Atlantic City Airshow

The airshow, which was canceled suddenly in 2024, was previously put on pause for 2025. That also left the $23 million the airshow brought to Atlantic City on the table.

“The Airshow is important for our casinos, businesses, and for our tourism and hospitality industry as a whole, and the Small administration has always offered our support to do what needs to be done to make sure this event lives on,” Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, Sr. said in a statement.

Mindful of the economic impact the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Authority already announced its “Wildwoods Thunder Over the Ocean Airshow" for Saturday, Sept. 6.

"We looked at this major economic impact that has gone away for two years in a row now and we decided we're going to bring it to the Wildwoods and have an airshow," spokesman Ben Rose told New Jersey 101. He added that the show was not intended to be a replacement for Atlantic City and they are moving "full steam ahead."

Rose said that all the acts have been booked for their show by Dave Schultz Airshows, the "airboss" who ran the Atlantic City show for over 20 years.

"The show will be a complete 4-hour show including military jets, civilian jet teams, and aerobatic performances. We expect in excess of 400,000 people to attend this show providing a tremendous economic impact for not only the Wildwoods but all of Cape May County," Rose said.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds headline the Power in the Pines Airshow in May at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

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