Thunderbirds Slated To Return To Cheyenne Frontier Days in 2024

The Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team is scheduled to return to Cheyenne Frontier Days for a July 24 performance, according to a schedule posted on the group's Facebook page and website yesterday.

That appearance was verified on Wednesday morning by a spokeswoman for F.E. Warren Air Force Base, who gave Townsquare Media the following statement:

''We are excited to see Cheyenne, Wyoming, and F.E. Warren Air Force Base on the U.S. Air Force Thunderbird’s schedule for 2024. We know the community greatly missed the air show this past summer. Now that our local airport is repaired and reopened, we are looking forward to a wonderful ‘Wings over Warren’ performance!''

The Thunderbirds have been one of the highlights of CFD most years since 1953, but they canceled last year's show due to safety concerns.

As Townsquare Media's Joy Greenwald reported, the concerns were raised because the Cheyenne airport was not available due to a runway renovation project. That meant the team would have had to fly out of Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland.

But a 2021 incident involving that airport raised safety concerns, as Greenwald reported last year. ''One of the F-16s had to make an emergency landing in Loveland due to a hydraulic leak, spilling fluids across the runway and forcing the rest of the team to divert across Denver International Airport airspace and land at Buckley Space Force Base, the team determined it was too risky to fly without an approved emergency landing airfield nearby.''

The renovation project at the Cheyenne Regional Airport has now been completed.

July 24 is the Wednesday of CFD week, Cheyenne Day, and the traditional day for the Thunderbirds to perform at Frontier Days.