AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – The Augusta Air Show was a big hit this past spring.

Now, Augusta Airport leaders are working on plans to keep it coming back. 

The 2023 air show had thousands of people in their seats and eyes to the sky for its return to Bush Field after a 20-year absence.

Aviation Commission leaders are making sure another two decades don’t go by before another show happens. 

“We will continue to use – it’s our secondary runway – and we’ll continue to use that as the main location,” Augusta Regional Airport Executive Director Herbert Judon said.

The Commission approved keeping the event at Bush Field for at least the next three years.

“You may see some of the air nautical boxes in some of the places where the MC’s for the event, and that may shift slightly, but the area that we used this year will continue to be used in the future,” Judon said. 

The air show brings more than just people, and Judon talks about what spectators can expect at the next show. 

“We have tens of thousands of people that came to the air show. It was a huge economic impact on the region. We’re gonna do it again. So, next year it’s gonna be on Memorial Day weekend, two weeks beyond where it was this year. This past year we featured the Air Force Thunderbirds, so we’ll continue to get those types of highlight attractions as we go forward, but it’s only getting bigger and better.”

And speaking of “bigger and better,” Judon and the rest of the commission have plans for expansion after receiving a total of $7 million in grant money for airport improvement. 

New developments like a consolidated rental car facility, which will maintain 450 cars, a car wash service, and a 12,000-gallon fuel tank capacity, are coming to the airport.

“We also talked, today, about our security checkpoint expansion. We’re gonna add two additional lanes to our TSA security entrance point. So, that will add a lot more capacity and also give us the opportunity to do things such as dedicated precheck lanes,” Judon said. “I guess the big thing you’ll see here is the gates three and four. It’s called gates three and four rehabilitation, but it’s about a 1800 square footage expansion of the main terminal. This particular project will enclose the eastern portion of the main terminal, where the window is, and it will allow us to add two new passenger boarding bridges.” 

The Airport staff say all the efforts they’re putting into expanding new parts of the airport is due to the growth and demand for travels to and from the airport and the city of Augusta.