The Virginia Regional Festival of Flight, an annual fly-In held at Suffolk Executive Airport each spring, will not be held this year so that reorganizational plans can be initiated to improve and expand the event for 2016, according to organizers.
After 17 years of sponsoring the Virginia Regional Festival of Flight, the Virginia Aviation Council has decided to forgo holding the 2015 event, scheduled for May, so that it can be refocused to encourage additional participation and new activities, officials noted in a prepared statement.
Efforts will be made to enhance the program for the statewide fly-in, including offering more opportunities to attract youth to flying and to inform them about aviation careers available to them.
Randall Burdette, executive director of the Virginia Department of Aviation, and Ray Batton, president of the Virginia Aviation Council, plan to invite additional Virginia aviation-oriented organizations to participate in the planning process, beginning this spring, to identify ways to grow and re-brand the 2016 Virginia Regional Festival of Flight to serve the needs of the aviation community across the entire state.
The Virginia Aviation Council is a non-profit Virginia corporation formed in 1996 that operates the Virginia Regional Festival of Flight.