San Francisco Fleet Week Runs October 4 to 12, With the Air Show October 9 to 11

San Francisco Fleet Week runs October 4 to 12, 2026, with the air show over the waterfront on October 9, 10, and 11. Air show tickets are on sale through the organizers’ site, and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are listed for San Francisco on October 10 and 11 in the squadron’s published 2026 show schedule.

What Is Confirmed

The Fleet Week organizers place the air show between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, and note it is the only air show in the United States where a commercial airliner, a United 777, flies a fully choreographed act. The show is produced by the Air Show Network.

Two pages on the Fleet Week site give different start times. The air show page lists 12:00 to 4:00 pm on all three days. The event calendar lists 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on each of those days. Take the earlier time as the outer edge and check the calendar again closer to the date.

The Navy’s own schedule covers only October 10 and 11, which means Friday, October 9 is an air show day that the Blue Angels are not currently listed for. The rest of the performer lineup is not out either. As of August 23, the air show page still reads “performer lineup coming soon.” Several travel sites are already publishing what they present as the full 2026 performer list; none of that is confirmed on the organizers’ own page.

The Free Events

Most of Fleet Week happens off the water, and the pieces below are all listed on the organizers’ public calendar.

Parade of Ships: Friday, October 9, 10:30 am to noon, along the waterfront, as the visiting ships sail in under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ship Tours: Tuesday, October 6 through Monday, October 12, at Piers 27 and 35. Most days run 10 am to 4 pm, with a shorter 9 am to noon window on the last day and Pier 35 dropping off the schedule after October 8.

Fleet Fest: Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11 at Fisherman’s Wharf, around the SkyStar Wheel and Pier 27, from 10 am. The calendar lists both days ending at 5 pm; the Fleet Fest page lists Saturday running to 9 pm.

K9 Heroes: Saturday, October 10, 10 to 11 am at Duboce Park, a demonstration of search and rescue, detection, and therapy dogs.

Neighborhood Concert Series: Monday, October 5 through Monday, October 12. Military bands play short free sets across the city. Stops on the published schedule include Japantown Peace Plaza, Grace Cathedral, Union Square, Ghirardelli Square, Pier 39, the Castro, Presidio Tunnel Tops, the Golden Gate Park Band Shell, the Bayview Opera House, West Portal, the Ferry Building, Noe Valley Town Square, Salesforce Park, Huntington Park, the Chinatown Night Market, and the San Francisco Zoo.

High School Band Challenge: Monday, October 12, 9 am to noon at the Golden Gate Park Band Shell, with Bay Area high school bands competing for prize money for their music programs.

The Honor Our Fallen Concert is Thursday, October 8, 6 to 8 pm at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre. The Italian Heritage Parade, a separate event that shares the weekend, is on the Fleet Week calendar for Sunday, October 11 at 12:30 pm, running from Jefferson and Powell to Washington Park.

Details

When: October 4 to 12, 2026. Air show October 9, 10, and 11.

Where: The San Francisco waterfront, with events at Piers 27 and 35, Fisherman’s Wharf, and neighborhood venues across the city.

Cost: The Neighborhood Concert Series is free. Reserved air show seating and corporate chalets are ticketed through the air show page. The organizers have not posted 2026 admission terms for Fleet Fest or the ship tours, so check those pages before you plan around them.

Getting there: Fleet Week points visitors to 511.org for transit and publishes its own parking and transportation pages. The F Market and Wharves streetcar runs the length of the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf and is the simplest way in from Market Street. Check SFMTA for bus routes and any air show day reroutes.

Fleet Week overlaps the last weekend of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass run in Golden Gate Park, which finishes October 4, and falls the week after Portola at Pier 80.

Sources: the San Francisco Fleet Week air show page and events calendar, and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels 2026 show schedule.

Photo: U.S. Navy.