Hampton Roads will have to wait a little longer for its next big air show. Air Power Over Hampton Roads, the air show and open house held at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, is now scheduled for May 6-7, 2028, after organizers pushed it back from a planned spring 2027 date.
The reschedule comes down to runway work, according to WAVY, which reports that officials moved the show because of critical infrastructure upgrades planned for Langley Air Force Base's single runway. The two-day demonstration is built around showing off military aviation capabilities, joint readiness and community partnerships across the greater Hampton Roads region, the station notes.
What a New Runway Timeline Means for the Show
Langley operates with just one runway, so any major construction there has a way of rippling through the base's schedule, including public events like this one. The station's report does not detail the scope or construction timeline of those upgrades, but it does make clear they were significant enough to bump the air show out of 2027 altogether rather than simply shift it by a few weeks.
A separate project offers some sense of the kind of runway work Langley has grappled with in recent years, even though it is not confirmed to be the same upgrade driving the 2028 reschedule. A runway 8-26 resiliency study at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, described by Connico, aimed to improve drainage, stabilize the subgrade and regrade the airfield. That study noted the base constantly faces shutdowns caused by rain events, and it ultimately selected an alternative known as Raise Runway in Place, or COA 6, for implementation.
Looking Back at the 2025 Show
The last time the air show took place, it ran April 26-27, 2025, according to a listing from Visit Hampton. That event promised flight performances, STEM exhibits, a kids play area, a beer garden and concessions, and promotional materials invited visitors to join what was described as 75,000 attendees, though that figure was event marketing rather than a verified attendance count. A separate Air Force write-up from the base said thousands of spectators turned out that weekend for what it called a celebration of airpower and precision flying.
Joint Base Langley-Eustis has used its own social channels to promote the show in years past, including a Facebook video tied to the 2025 dates. For 2028, specifics are still to come: organizers plan to post the event theme, the static display lineup and the complete aerial demonstration itinerary on the official event website, per the same WAVY report, though none of those details have been released yet.
With exactly 18 months still on the calendar before gates open again at Langley, Hampton Roads residents have time to plan, even if the finer points of the 2028 show remain unannounced.
