EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH 2026 WAS ANOTHER RECORD-SETTING EVENT

Information courtesy of the EAA, random AirVenture photos by Ken Kula

Here are official press releases from the Experimental Aircraft Association with some of the record-breaking results from AirVenture Oshkosh 2026:

EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH 2026
RECORDS SET AT WORLD’S GREATEST AVIATION CELEBRATION

Comment from EAA CEO and Chairman Jack Pelton:
• “The celebration of America 250 also became an amazing week at The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration at Oshkosh. So many highlights and memories emerged from the grounds over the seven days that made this year at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh unforgettable.”

Attendance: Approximately 734,000 – Highest total on record! (Previous: 704,000 – 2025). Comment from Pelton:
• “While it’s gratifying to see a record attendance total again this year – which is a credit to our dedicated volunteers, staff, and partners – our goal each year is not to chase numbers but to showcase EAA’s community and share our mission of growing participation in aviation by sharing The Spirit of Aviation. We know that people leave Oshkosh each year inspired and excited by the world of flight that EAA represents.”

International guests: 98 countries represented with visitors registered at the International Visitors Pavilion.

Total aircraft: More than 10,000 aircraft arrived at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh and other airports in east-central Wisconsin. At Wittman alone, there were 15,527 aircraft operations in the period from noon CDT July 16 to noon CDT July 27, which is an average of approximately 101 takeoffs/landings per hour when the airport is open.

Total showplanes: 2,851 including: 1,346 vintage aircraft, 875 homebuilt aircraft, 360 warbirds, 118 ultralights and light planes, 88 seaplanes and amphibians, 40 aerobatic aircraft, 18 rotorcraft, and 6 hot-air balloons.

Camping: More than 13,600 sites in aircraft and drive-in camping accounted for more than 40,000 visitors.

Volunteers: Approximately 6,000 contributing nearly 300,000 hours.

Commercial exhibitors represented: 1,021 (record number).

Forums, Workshops, and Presentations: More than 1,600 sessions hosted during the week at 65 venues.

Social Media, Internet and Mobile: More than 30 million people were reached by EAA’s social media channels during AirVenture, with engagement of 2 million; Total social media video views: 17.1 million; Nearly 50,000 social media followers gained.

The Gathering shines: The EAA Aviation Foundation’s annual event to support its aviation education programs attracted more than 1,000 people and raised a record $2.85 million dollars that will be focused on EAA’s mission of growing participation in aviation.

Media: 849 media representatives on-site, from six continents.

Economic impact*: $257 million for the five counties in the Oshkosh region (Winnebago, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Brown). * – based on 2025 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh economic impact study.

What’s ahead for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2027 (July 26-August 1, 2027)?

Comment from Pelton:• “We’re going to first take a breath after this incredible year. Our volunteers, staff and all involved deserve it. Within the next month, however, as we collect feedback and ideas, we’ll begin plotting the course for 2027, which for instance is the 100th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s historic trans-Atlantic solo flight. That is just one idea and there will be many, many more to come.”

Additional information about this year’s AirVenture:

Every year, AirVenture writes its own story over a weeklong period at Oshkosh. By the time it’s finished, it’s fair to say that story is big as an encyclopedia.

One measure of that is the more than 65,000 words written by the AirVenture Today team over eight issues of the daily newspaper distributed on the grounds on July 19-26. That is approximately the same number of words that goes into an average best-selling novel. It also accounted for 62,000 copies of the paper, or 3,312,000 pages.

Those are just a few of the odd and interesting numbers collected during The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. While some of the major statistics were released shortly after the event ended, number geeks (like us) enjoy some of the others…

• One of the fun post-AirVenture games is watching how long members wear their wristbands before they remove it or it just disintegrates. But, if we took everyone’s wristband when they departed and laid those bands end-to-end, it would stretch for 113 miles…
• The Operation Thirst volunteers made 18,632 sandwiches to feed the other volunteers on the grounds…
• A total of 1,381 people ran, walked, or sauntered in the Runway 5K run/walk on July 25, accounting for 4,281 total miles or approximately the straight-line air distance between Atlanta and London (each of which, during AirVenture week, have international airports less busy than Wittman Regional Airport)…
• The EAA Aviation Museum welcomed 38,000 visitors during the week – roughly one-third of its total annual attendance…
• Along with all the airplanes and people arriving by bus, shuttle, and motorhome, EAA teams parked more than 68,400 cars in our lots during the week, nearly 6,000 more than in 2025. That encompassed 15,800 vehicles parked on July 25, including 7,400 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. alone! …
• A team of volunteers at the Print/Mail Center hand-assembled more than 30,000 buttons that were distributed by various EAA groups during the week…

And finally: 1 – As in one tremendous week that brought together the world of flight like no place else on earth. And in one year, we’ll be ready to do it again (July 26-August 1, 2027)!