CHICOPEE, Mass. (AP) – The return of a popular air show to western Massachusetts after a four-year hiatus is being greeted as a boon to businesses and the morale of a region deeply affected by repeated troop deployments to the Middle East.

The Great New England Air Show, which has been held only once since the 2001 terrorist attacks, is slated to return Sept. 6 and 7 to Westover Air Reserve Base, organizers announced this week.

It features precision flying shows and displays of vintage and modern aircraft from around the U.S., and drew more than 300,000 people at its last show in 2004.

“The whole city’s excited that this is going to happen,” Chicopee Chamber of Commerce president Gail Sherman said Thursday. “It’s great for businesses and it’s a patriotic event that’s a real tribute to our military.”

Budget constraints, space limits and large deployments of equipment and personnel to the Middle East forced organizers to scrap the air show in 2002 and 2006.

Word of its return comes as the base, home to the 439th Airlift Wing, this week began deploying about 200 reservists for Iraq and Afghanistan. Officials say the majority already have served at least one overseas deployment before.

Heightened security concerns mean safety measures at the air show will be more stringent this fall than pre-2001 levels, including the use of metal detectors at entrances and more police officers. But organizers and base officials say they believe aviation enthusiasts who’ve missed the biennial event will return in droves.

That’s good news for many local businesses in working-class Chicopee and surrounding communities. Several new retail plazas have opened in the region since the 2004 show, and area hotels often have been filled in the past with show visitors and participants.

“It’s good business for us, and good for the area,” said Westover Super Mart manager Kamlesh Patel, whose store gets a steady stream of air show visitors seeking sodas, snacks or a chance to bet on televised Keno games and horse races.

This year’s Great New England Air Show is the only Massachusetts event of its type scheduled in 2008 so far.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 aerial demonstration team and the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team are among the groups scheduled to perform.

A variety of military aircraft also will be on hand at Westover, which is home to 16 massive C-5 Galaxy heavy-transport cargo planes. Those planes will be displayed along with F-15 Strike Eagle jets and A-10 Warthogs.

Other regional air shows in 2008 also are scheduled June 29 in North Kingston, R.I., and July 19 at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Windsor Locks, Conn.

The Westover show comes in the 60th anniversary year of the founding of the Air Force Reserve.

“It’s a perfect time to have the air show again,” said Maj. Jennifer Christovich, the base’s spokeswoman. “It’s an ideal time show off the aircraft from World War II all the way to our latest and greatest stealthy aircraft.”

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On the Web: www.greatnewenglandairshow.com

AP-ES-01-10-08 1639EST