For about one week each summer, the Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh becomes the one of the world’s busiest airports, with its air traffic controllers helping coordinate more than 16,000 flights.
That’s while Oshkosh hosts the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture event, a week-long airshow and fly-in convention. The event brings thousands of people — and airplanes — to the Fox Valley each July and generates more than $250 million in estimated economic impact.
AirVenture runs through Sunday and features air shows and rare and unusual aircraft on display. While the event always showcases aviation history, this year’s AirVenture also includes nods to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“While the EAA fly-in convention has always been the gathering place for every segment of aviation, 2026 promises to be an unforgettable display of what aviation has meant to our nation and to the world at large,” said Rick Larsen, EAA’s vice president of communities and member programs, in a statement.
Last year, EAA reported that AirVenture had a record-high attendance of 704,000 people, including more than 2,000 attendees from a record-high 94 countries outside the United States. Last year’s event also saw more than 10,000 aircraft arrive either at the Wittman Regional Airport or others nearby.
“This puts Oshkosh and Wisconsin on the map, not only nationally but internationally,” said Amy Albright, executive director of Discover Oshkosh. “We look so forward to this time of year where we get to really show off Oshkosh and welcome people that are so excited to be here.”
Already this week, she said she’s met people who are visiting the state from Sweden, Australia, Montana, Florida and Texas.
The event has long been an international attraction. But Albright said it’s also become more of a family outing in recent years, after EAA began offering free entry for children.
“I think that’s just a really fun trend to see,” Albright said. “You’re seeing a lot of kids getting really excited about aviation.”
While many camp on-site at the EAA grounds near their small personal airplanes, Albright said visitors in Wisconsin for AirVenture stay in communities throughout the Fox Valley, as well as in Green Bay to the north and Milwaukee to the south.
She said the area’s hotels, Airbnbs and other lodging businesses have been “gearing up” for what’s typically “a very good week.”
And Albright says the boost to the local economy goes far beyond lodging.
“Everything from, of course, the hotels and restaurants to the shuttle buses to the caterers to the florists, there’s just really no shortage of people that are affected by this,” she said.
An economic impact analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh released last year found that AirVenture had an economic impact of $257 million for the Fox Valley economy. That data is based on the 2024 event, which had an attendance of 650,000 people.
Of that $257 million in economic impact, $117 million went to Oshkosh alone, the study found.
“It’s a big deal — $257 million could be equivalent to a pretty good sized manufacturing facility being open for a couple weeks and producing goods and services for that amount of time,” said David Fuller, an economics professor at UW-Oshkosh who worked on the study.
Fuller said much of the event’s $170 million in direct spending comes from visitors buying lodging, food, transportation, fuel and entertainment.
Beyond spending, the report says AirVenture accounts for 2,100 jobs in the Fox Valley and 815 in Oshkosh.
Fuller said those jobs range from being in the hospitality and entertainment industry to the food and beverage industry. He said the event even generates construction jobs.
“Different sorts of economic activity are required as a part of the bigger production, and so it spans quite a few potential industries,” Fuller said.
https://www.wpr.org/news/oshkosh-wisconsin-on-map-eaa-airventure