25-01-2016
Posted by IBA
SkyVenture Announces 2016 Tunnel Openings
For flyers everywhere, 2016 looks to be a great year and is the promise of things to come from Austin-based SkyVenture, part of iFLY Holdings.
They have just announced 21 new SkyVenture wind tunnels that will all be operating under the company’s iFLY brand. This includes their Kansas City location that opened over the weekend with the new 14ft diameter flight chamber with 5.5 meters height of glass. There are more SkyVenture tunnels currently under contract. We are also awaiting news of other newcomers to the US market - Fliteshop in Phoenix by ISG and Airborne in San Diego.
An analysis of the 2013 US Census data of the greater metro areas with either an existing tunnel or on the list below finds that by the end of 2016 over 123,000,000 people living in North America will have a wind tunnel located within their greater metro area. That means over a third of the US population will be within driving distance of at least one SkyVenture-designed wind tunnel. With the addition of wind tunnels in France, Brasil, and Australia, another 37 million people will have access to their dreams of flight. This kind of availability and accessibility surely means incredible things for our sport. The 2015 World Championship at Hurricane Factory Prague hosted some 250 competitors, this number can only grow exponentially.
Some notable milestones are a third wind tunnel in Chicago, Illinois; a fifth and sixth tunnel in Texas; two brand new tunnels in the skydiving-paradise that is Southern California; and a long awaited new tunnel in the entertainment centre of Orlando, FL (actually rumored to be two tunnels side by side).
City Expected Opening Size (ft)
Kansas City, Kansas Open! 14
Gold Coast, Australia February 12
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma February 12
Sao Paulo, Brasil February 12
San Antonio, Texas February 12
San Diego, California February 14
Ontario, California February 14
Lincoln Park Chicago, Illinois February 12
Brasilia, Brasil February 12
Ashburn, VA (Washington, DC) February 14
Sacramento, California March 12
King of Prussia (Philadelphia), PA March 14
Lyon, France May/June 14
Baltimore, Maryland June 14
Melbourne, Australia October 14
Paris, France Sept/October 14
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida October 14
Atlanta, Georgia October 14
Tampa, Florida November 14
Ft. Worth, Texas November 12
Orlando, Florida TBD TBD
Stay tuned to our Tunnels page to keep up-to-date on tunnel locations and openings around the world!