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Staging a Black Friday Fly-In: Airports Near Shopping Malls

Pilots can make a case for efficiency while learning interesting history at the nation’s largest malls.

Flying to the mall can save time on your holiday shopping [Credit: Shutterstock]
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Key Takeaways:

  • The article identifies major U.S. shopping malls, such as Mall of America and American Dream, as efficient retail destinations for pilots seeking to complete holiday shopping.
  • It highlights the strategic advantage of flying to these large retail centers due to their proximity to airports, though some may require navigating busy airspace or utilizing feeder airports.
  • Beyond shopping convenience, the article notes that many of the associated airports, like Van Nuys and Opa Locka Executive, boast rich aviation histories that pilots may find appealing.
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With Black Friday and the holiday shopping season just days away, we are looking at retail destinations for pilots. In the name of efficiency, we picked some of the nation’s largest with the idea of completing as much of our shopping as possible at one place.

Shopping malls have long been popular stops for road trippers but they also make sense for aviators because there are usually airports nearby. In some cases the airspace might be challenging but worth the extra work given the potential time savings. Some of the malls listed here represent watersheds in retail development. The airports also have interesting stories that pilots are likely to appreciate.

Jonathan Welsh

Jonathan Welsh is Lead Editor of Aviation Consumer and a private pilot who worked as a reporter, editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal for 21 years, mostly covering the auto industry. His passion for aviation began in childhood with balsa-wood gliders his aunt would buy for him at the corner store. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JonathanWelsh4

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