The Great Bend Municipal Airport and Convention and Visitors Bureau announced Thursday this year’s partnership building this year’s Kansas Air Tour around the 2018 Great Bend Airfest set for Sept. 28-30, CVB Director Christina Hayes said.  

The Kansas Department of Transportation, Division of Aviation, in partnership with The Kansas Commission on Aerospace Education, has designed this year’s tour to include the airfest. Recognizing the significance of the Great Bend event as one of the premier warbird airshows in the central United States, the Air Tour Committee has coordinated with Great Bend to host the arrival of the touring aircraft prior to the first airshow and departing after the second.

Great Bend Airfest organizers will coordinate the motel arrangements, as well as a private evening reception with airshow performers and sponsors of the event.

The 2018 Airtour runs from Sept. 27-29 and the route includes:

• Day one, Sept. 27: Start at Wellington and include Hutchinson, Junction City and Abilene

• Day two, Sept. 28: Start at Abilene and include Clay Center, Rooks County and Great Bend

• Day three, Sept. 29: Start at Great Bend and end up at Rose Hill

“This year is shaping up to be one to remember as it will take place during the Great Bend Airfest and include many airports that have not been part of the tour before,” said Trever Linn, State of Kansas manager of marketing and outreach. The route will be smaller and will focus on central Kansas airports, but will include the opportunity to fly into new communities and take part in a major event. 

“Our hope is to reach new pilots, include more communities, and drive economic development at each of the airports selected,” Linn said. 

“The City of Great Bend has received great interest in this year’s event,” Haye said. 

For more information about the Great Bend Airfest or Kansas Air Tour contact airport Manater Martin Miller at 620-793-4168.