Pensacola Beach Air Show to be held this weekend
Pensacola Beach Air Show is back July 15 through 18.
The annual air show will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and the 80th anniversary of the Blue Angels, who will appear each day. The event is free to the public.
The schedule of events will have kicked off with the Breakfast with the Blues event at 7:30 a.m. along Pensacola Beach. The event is a practice run of sorts, giving the Blue Angel pilots and the rest of the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron the opportunity to mark the show’s coordinates and center points.
The following day, Thursday, the Blue Angels will hold a full practice show over the beach at 2 p.m. No civilian acts will participate that day.
On Friday, the Blue Angels will be joined by the other acts performing in the air show for a dress rehearsal. The flight demonstrations and aerobatic performances begin at approximately 10:30 a.m. and the Blue Angels will appear again at 2 p.m.
Saturday is the official day of the air show and follows the dress rehearsal schedule.
In addition to the Blue Angels, the air show will feature a Red Bull Air Force demonstration featuring precision jumpers and an aerobatic helicopter display. Other flights will include the SNJ-5 and T-6 Texan II training aircraft, an L-39 Albatros, a 1949 F4U-5 Corsair, the 187th Fighter Wing’s F-35s, a biplane wingwalking display, a Bellanca Decathlon aircraft, a RV-8 aircraft, a WWII era AT-6 Texan aircraft, two B-1B Lancers and a Veterans flight in honor of Korean War veterans.
Spectator information
For safety reasons, spectators will be restricted from accessing the water during the aerial performances.
According to the Santa Rosa Island Authority, which helps organize the logistics of the show, spectators should plan to arrive early as space in beach parking lots will fill up fast.
Once the Casino Beach parking lot is full, people are advised to park at Park East and Park West, where the island trolley can pick them up and shuttle them back towards Casino Beach. Park East is located a mile east of Portofino Resort and Park West is located just east of the entrance to Fort Pickens.
Due to the gridlock immediately following the air show, riders should expect to wait 90 minutes or more for the trolleys or buses to return to Casino Beach if they are not on the first trip out.
SRIA said drones and kites are prohibited during the show. According to SRIA, any drone detected within a five-mile radius of the restricted flight zone will result in an immediate pause of the air show until the airspace is clear.
Visit the SRIA website for more information on beach safety, trolley transportation and a more robust schedule of events.
In addition, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office shared there will be a change in the traffic pattern along Navarre Beach Causeway Saturday.
“To help manage the high traffic volume during the Pensacola Beach Air Show, the southbound lanes of the Navarre Beach Bridge will be closed to all southbound traffic between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 18, 2026,” the agency shared in a statement. “During this time, both lanes will be used for northbound traffic only to help ease congestion as visitors exit the beach after the show.”