What to know about USA’s planned CAPEWEEK air show

With dates finalised, aerospace companies now find themselves considering attending another major aerospace exhibition.
More details have emerged about what President Donald Trump describes as a massive new air show planned for 2028, as the event’s backers seek to raise attention and secure exhibitors for the planned seven-day show.

News of the event, called CAPEWEEK, broke only last week, and already the aerospace industry is eager to understand what to expect. Meanwhile, there are questions about the impetus for and likely success of another major international aviation exhibition.

Opinions are mixed.

“It’s a great idea,” says Alex Krutz, managing director of aerospace advisory Patriot Industrial Partners and former deputy assistant secretary for manufacturing under President Trump for the US Department of Commerce.

“Why wouldn’t the USA, as a large customer of commercial aircraft and the biggest supplier of military equipment, put on its own aerospace and defence airshow? Why would we defer to Europe on this?” he adds.

Others are unsure, with AeroDynamic Advisory managing director Richard Aboulafia describing the planned show as “a perfect answer to a question nobody ever asked”.

The event is to happen annually, with the first iteration on 27 March-2 April 2028 at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility on Merritt Island near Cape Canaveral in Florida. This site, now managed by Space Florida, has a 4,572m (15,000ft) runway and has been underused in recent years, NASA documents show.

The 2028 show’s first three days will involve a “Leadership Forum”, after which will come three “industry days” followed by two days during which the show will be open to the public.

Organisers of the Farnborough International Airshow, scheduled for just a few months later in July 2028, did not respond to a request for comment.

Backers

“The industry exposition is designed to establish an American venue for major product introductions and commercial agreements, connecting companies with customers, suppliers and investors from around the world,” says CAPEWEEK.

A public-private partnership between the state of Florida, its Space Florida industry arm and NASA are developing the show, CAPEWEEK says, adding that the exhibition does not have US government funding.

They say CAPEWEEK will attract investors, government officials and representatives from major commercial and defence aerospace manufacturers and from advanced air mobility, autonomy, robotics and energy-related start-ups. CAPEWEEK is now open to talking with potential exhibitors.

“Grander even than Paris’, Trump said last week of the planned show. Source: C-SPAN

Organisers predict it will draw 500,000 visitors annually and generate $5 billion in economic activity during its first ten years.

CAPEWEEK is the vision of Cyrus Sigari, an entrepreneur who co-founded UP.Partners, a Santa Monica investment firm with interests in start-ups including hypersonic aircraft developer Hermeus, autonomous flight technology developer Reliable Robotics and air taxi developer Beta Technologies.

“America is the techno-aerospace republic,” Sigari tells FlightGlobal. “We invented the airplane, we electrified the world, we built the internet and we pioneered super-intelligence. We deserve a week on American soil where the people building what comes next can come together with industry, government, investors and the public.”

UP.Partners also hosts the UP.Summit, an annual transportation-technology event that has gained recent prominence. The most-recent iteration happened last week at the Kennedy Space Center and coincided with a new NASA innovation exposition called MAX POWER.

CAPEWEEK builds on those events’ successes, its organiser says.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman revealed the planned show on 6 November at Cape Canaveral. Trump has said it will be “grander even than” the Paris air show and facilitate “billions of dollars in deals”.

Room for one more?

Whether CAPEWEEK achieves international stature depends on how many large aerospace companies plop down deposits to exhibit at yet another major event, Aboulafia notes.

“A lot depends on industry buy-in. If industry says, ‘That’s great, we are going to put up some of our own cash,’ it’s quite conceivable” the event would succeed, Aboulafia says.

Major aerospace firms Airbus, Boeing and RTX, and trade groups Aerospace Industries Association and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) did not respond or declined to comment. GE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lockheed Martin says, “We look forward to talking with the organisers as their vision for CAPEWEEK continues to evolve”.

The USA already hosts what is by some measures the world’s largest air show: AirVenture. That annual event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin has commercial and defence components but caters mostly to general aviation and aviation enthusiasts. NBAA also hosts in Las Vegas annually the world’s largest business aviation expo.

“It’s not like the US doesn’t have events that cater to aerospace”, Aboulafia says.

But the USA lacks a marquee aerospace-industry exhibition with global reach. The top events are in places like Dubai, Singapore, Paris (largely considered to be the most lavish and highest profile) and Farnborough.

“America needs a home stage, not only for its companies but for the United States government, partners, investors, corporates and entrepreneurs – a place to introduce technology, meet customers and make major announcements,” CAPEWEEK founder Sigari says, adding that Space Florida’s help will be invaluable. “From the White House on down, the enthusiasm is real.”

Krutz also thinks CAPEWEEK makes good sense, citing the massive size of the USA’s aerospace and airline industries and noting that many non-US firms – Airbus included – maintain massive US operations. He also views such a show as enabling the USA to sell more military equipment overseas.

“We are the world’s technology leader,” Krutz says. “This is a good opportunity to showcase our technology where it is developed.”

Sigari says CAPEWEEK, working with Florida and its Governor-elect Byron Donalds, will “build the infrastructure to eventually host 500,000 people”, noting Florida’s Space Coast is roughly 40min by car from Orlando and its plethora of hotel rooms.

“We will grow our ambitions and our capacity in lockstep with the infrastructure,” he says.

The post What to know about USA’s planned CAPEWEEK air show first appeared on FlightGlobal.

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