Getting Towards The End

This coming week, we welcome the veterans from Peoria, IL, Fort Dodge, IA, and Provo, Utah on Tuesday (5/26). Greater Peoria arrives at 9:30 am followed closely by Brushy Creek at 10:00 am. After sending them on their way, we’ll welcome Utah at 1:17 pm. In the evening, Greater Peoria comes back to Dulles at 6:30 pm with Brushy Creek following close behind at 7:05 pm.

On Wednesday, we will welcome the veterans from The Villages (Florida) at 8:00 am. The Villages will return to the airport at 4:45 pm with the Utah veterans coming back at 5:30 pm.

As our spring season starts to wind down, we have only 7 flights left. So make sure to sign up to celebrate and thank these veterans for their service to our country. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding, how fitting it is to also remember those who fought for our freedom.

Sign up HERE.

Parking Placards – Housekeeping Item

To get free parking at Dulles airport requires getting a parking placard and the directions to the parking lot.

We’ve learned that some groups have an “internal” signup process so they know how many people from the group will be attending. Unless the group redistributes the instructions and placard to its members, the Honor Flight at Dulles team has no way of knowing who needs the information.

If you are a driver, the best bet for you to get the instructions and placard is to fill out the signup form on our website. Unless you misspell your email address (and that still happens), you will get the information in your email 48 to 36 hours before the plane lands or buses return to Dulles.

The signups are here — heroeswelcomeiad.com

Busy Times Ahead

Tuesday, April 7th, sees the veterans from Peoria, Illinois and Provo, Utah arriving at Dulles.  On the 8th, the Utah veterans leave. On the 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 25th, flights bring more veterans to visit their memorials.  On the 25th, three sets of veterans will arrive.  After that, there are flights each day from the 26th through 29th.  It will be a very, very busy time at Dulles.

We invite you to come to Dulles to wave, cheer, and thank these veterans.  There certainly is no shortage of opportunities!   If you haven’t already signed up, click HERE to do so.

Greeting instructions are always sent out 48 to 36 hours before the planes arrive.  Check the instructions for the arrival/departure times as these sometimes change from the posted schedule. If you signed up but don’t get the instructions, it’s probably because there was an error in entering your email address.  Please double check when entering it.

Snow, Sleet, …. and SIGNUPS!

While the weather outside is miserable and folks have been advised to stay off the roads, it’s a perfect time to cuddle up with a hot chocolate, a warm blanket, and your laptop to sign up for Honor Flights! All of the signup links are now active, so get busy. Folks have already been signing up for the early flights. It’s a great time for you to also get in the act and sign up to greet our honored veterans.

Changes will still be happening with the schedule so check back for any updates that occur.

Remember, if you do not get a confirmation email within minutes after signing up, there was a problem with the entry of your email address.

To sign up, click https://heroeswelcomeiad.com/2026-spring-signups/

It’s going to be a busy spring

While it may seem quiet on the Honor Flight front to you …. it certainly isn’t for us. Each week, we are seeing more flights added to our schedule. As of now, we have 36 flights scheduled in between 21 March and 7 July. Several of those days have multiple groups, and sometimes multiple planes, on the same day. We have flights coming from six new places to Dulles Airport. We are working closely with the management at Dulles Airport to make it as smooth as possible on each flight day.

So if you are anxious to once again be able to greet our visiting heroes, you will have lots of opportunities. If you are associated with a work, social, school, or organizational group, please suggest that they come out to greet the veterans.

More details will be published by the end of January with the signups becoming available soon after that.

End of the 2025 Season

When the veterans from Columbus, Ohio boarded the mobile lounges to go to their plane to head home on the 13th of November, that signaled the end of the 2025 Honor Flight season at Dulles Airport. It’s been a busy year with 70 flights and just shy of 4300 veterans passing though the airport on the way to their day of honor.

We would like to thank the hundreds and hundreds of people who came to the airport to clap, cheer, and shake the hands of these heroes. We heard over and over that the greetings that they receive are over the top GREAT! We keep having more hubs choose to come to Dulles because of the greetings you provide!

The Honor Flight ground crew will be taking a well deserved break over the winter. It doesn’t mean that we won’t be busy as we are already looking at the schedule for 2026. The Honor Flight annual summit meeting is in mid-February which means that the spring schedule will be published soon after that.

Again — Thank you for being a great supporter of the Honor Flight Dulles program. See you in late March 2026!

End of the Season

The spring Honor Flight Season has come to an end.  When the Greater Peoria veterans headed home on Tuesday evening, the Honor Flight Ground Crew breathed a collective sigh of relief.  While we love having all the veterans come to see their memorials, it’s been a busy spring season with a total of 2306 veterans arriving at Dulles.

The fall season will start on 13 August with the veterans from Honor Flight of the Ozarks and end on 11 November with Honor Flight Columbus.  It’s also going to be a busy season with a total of 2356 veterans scheduled to visit with us.  To see the tentative schedule, click HERE.

We would like to thank the multitude of greeters who came to Dulles to greet our heroes.  You made them smile. You made them tear up.  You made them feel proud.  You gave them the welcome home that many never received.  It’s what we are all about and we hope to see you in the fall.