The Blue Angels Navy flight demonstration team, known for its close formation flights and acrobatics, will return to Brunswick in September for the first time since 2017.

The Blue Angels have traditionally been the headlining attraction at the Great State of Maine Air Show that takes place about every other year at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. The 2020 air show was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2017 air show drew about 35,000 people to Brunswick Landing over a two-day period.

This year, the Great State of Maine Air Show will take place over the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-5.

This will be the only New England appearance by the Blue Angels this year.

According to a news release, as part of their 75th anniversary, the Blue Angels will fly a new F-18 Super Hornet aircraft, which is 25% larger than the Hornet variant usually flown and which was retired in 2020.

“We are extremely pleased that Brunswick Executive Airport will once again host The Great State of Maine Airshow, featuring the Blue Angels and other notable aerial performers,” said Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, in the release. “We are very excited to work with The Air Show Network to put on this spectacular event in mid-coast Maine.”

“We’re thrilled to have worked with the Blue Angels to adjust their schedule to bring them back to Brunswick for the first time in four years,” said Jim Breen, President of The Air Show Network, which organizes the event. “Fans are going to love seeing the new look for the Blues flying the Super Hornet. In conjunction with MRRA, we intend to make this the best Great State of Maine Air Show ever.”

Tickets for the event, sponsored by Bill Dodge Auto Group, go on sale July 6 at GreatStateOfMaineAirShow.us and will be available online only. Tickets will not be sold onsite during show days.

There has been no word so far on ticket prices, although before the 2020 event was canceled, prices ranged from $25 to $150. Until the former air station closed in 2011, the Navy was able to put on air shows free to the public for 50 years.

In 2015, the show returned after a three-year break from Brunswick after the Blue Angels were grounded in 2013 by federal budget cuts.

They flew again in 2017 and then officials decided to postpone the 2019 show by a year so that the Blue Angels, who often need to be booked two years in advance, could return.

The Times Record previously reported that the air show costs between $600,000-$700,000.

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