After multiple warnings, the popular Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach has obtained a state permit to host its scheduled event this fall.
The California Coastal Commission voted Friday, Aug. 15, to approve the permit application filed by Code Four, the air show’s organizer.
The three-day gathering, planned this year for Oct. 3-5, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Surf City every year. More than two dozen military and civilian flight teams will perform aerial demonstrations over a one-mile stretch of shoreline and coastal airspace.
Code Four said October’s lineup offers new, bigger acts and entertainment, with more taking place on the beach. Along with aerial performances, attendees will find art installations, drone displays, sandcastle building competitions and freestyle motocross demonstrations.
But the coastal development permit comes with strings attached: 21 conditions the operator must comply with to mitigate the production’s impacts on natural resources and public access to the beach.
One of the conditions requires that Code Four provide, at all times, two vertical public access routes to the shoreline through the ticketed event area on the beach. Another directs the company to submit a plan addressing the environmental impact of a potential emergency fuel dump from an aircraft into coastal waters.
The commission also asked Code Four to provide extensive biological monitoring of the air show’s impact on local bird species, and asked that air show jets refrain from flying below 1,000 feet over the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. Repeated low flyovers during the 2023 show “harassed” many bird species at the reserve, causing them “to take flight each time the airplanes flew over,” the State Lands Commission said in a 2024 letter sent to the operator and the city of Huntington Beach.
Since the first event in 2016, the air show has been held without getting permits from the state or the city, a commission staff report said. Code Four took over in 2018.
In February 2024, the Coastal Commission wrote in a letter to the organizers that the previous year’s event, with its “widespread unpermitted privatization of public land,” violated “public access protection policies of the Coastal Act.”
To resolve those unauthorized uses of public lands, Code Four agreed to pay the state $274,758 to fund public access and habitat enhancement projects at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.
The operator also pledged at least 1,500 free tickets to students from local Title 1 schools and their parents, and groups of people who have had “limited opportunities for coastal access,” including the neurodivergent or those with disabilities. At least 100 of the tickets will be reserved in the coveted pier seating.
The commission granted Code Four a one-time permit valid only for this year’s event, with new applications required for future shows. The organizers initially sought a five-year authorization to host the annual gathering, but submitted the application three months late.
Kevin Elliot, the company’s CEO, told commissioners at Friday’s meeting that the majority of the event is free to the public, and that revenue from the show helps sustain the local economy during the off-season.
“For every ticket that we sell, we have 20 people that watch the event for free,” he said. “We’ve taken a slow time and turned it into the busiest beach day of the year throughout California.”
Several local elected officials, including Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns and Orange County First District Supervisor Janet Nguyen, asked commissioners to support the air show’s permit application and highlighted an estimated $120 million in economic benefits the event generates for the city annually.
Multiple Huntington Beach residents also spoke enthusiastically about the event, calling it a remarkable form of entertainment that brings the community together. “It’s hard not to watch an air show and not be inspired,” one speaker said.
Environmental activists, though, urged commissioners to push for stronger protections of the Bolsa Chica wetlands.
“If the Pacific Airshow is granted a coastal development permit, every possible measure should be taken to avoid disturbance to the creatures and the natural resources,” said Mel Nutter, the president of Amigos de Bolsa Chica.
Michelle Black, representing the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, said the air show needs to avoid the reserve all the time, and enforcement should be overseen by the commission.
“We don’t trust the city or the air show to protect the reserve,” she said. “The city allowed the air show to operate for years without a permit.”
The city has been embroiled in legal drama over the air show since October 2021, when Code Four sued Huntington Beach after officials canceled the last day of that year’s air show because of an oil spill.
In a controversial settlement that the city fought hard to keep sealed, Huntington Beach leaders agreed to pay the airshow organizer nearly $5 million in cash, along with giving a host of perks, including the exclusive right to stage the event for up to 40 years and thousands of parking spaces to resell, and waived city fees for public safety services.
Last October, the state auditor sued the city over its refusal to comply with an audit of the settlement. The lawsuit is pending in court.