CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Kingsville has been working with the U.S. Navy since the air show schedule was released late last year, but once the schedule is set, it's nearly impossible to change.
Kingsville City Manager Mark McLaughlin said that the reason the air show is not coming to town is due to an oversight.
"When we found out we weren't on the list we made a few phone calls and found out that the Navy never applied for the air show locally here. It was a little troubling. We thought that they would have done that," he said.
NAS Kingsville, which typically hosts the air show every even-numbered year, has seen up to 150,000 visitors during the air show weekend.
"We've engaged with the Navy here locally about, boy I hope you reconsider in the next few years, you know, putting this in for an air show because it means a lot to the city," he said.
Former Kingsville city official Dick Messabarger said he heard that the omission was unintentional.
"Because of an oversight, it was not on the schedule and there were two openings that the admiral tried to get Kingsville back into the schedule, and he was just unsuccessful on it because of where the location was of the previous show and where it was afterwards," he said.
Messabarger said that similar oversights have occurred in the past.
"Corpus Christi was left off the schedule one year a number of years ago. So it's not that unique," he said.
3NEWS did reach out to the Navy for an interview, but they declined. However, the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) issued a statement, which reads:
CNATRA and the Blue Angels are dedicated to bringing the demonstration team to airshows across the country in order to promote a meaningful relationship between our citizens and their Navy. For the 2024 airshow season, CNATRA did not receive an application requesting Blue Angel participation in a Kingsville hosted airshow. The Blue Angels remain hopeful to return to Kingsville in future airshows.
The city has even volunteered to help the Navy defray the costs involved with holding the air show.
McLaughlin said the city has offered to assist the Navy in offsetting the costs associated with hosting the air show.
"You get that three or four year old and he's got his Blue Angel model and he walks up and he sees the pilot right there in front of him. That's the beauty about having an air show here at NAS Kingsville," he said.
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