FLYING fans will get to enjoy the ‘Vulcan effect’ for longer than expected after it was announced this morning that the Bournemouth Air Festival favourite will stay in the air until the end of 2015.

The world’s last flying Avro Vulcan, one of the UK’s most popular heritage aircraft and a huge crowd-puller at the annual event in Bournemouth, is to receive an airframe modification that will extend its life.

It was originally thought that 2013 would be the Cold War bomber’s final season in the skies.

But research by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, which operates the jet, has found that its engineers can solve “the series of complex technical challenges that could have grounded her”.

Trust chief executive, Dr Robert Pleming, said: “If everything goes to plan, we should be able to release sufficient additional flying hours for XH558 to complete full display seasons in both 2014 and 2015, in addition to this year’s spectacular season, which is just about to start.

“There are still many gateways to pass through, but we are sufficiently confident to begin the vital fundraising that will make this exciting extension to XH558’s flying life possible.”

There are three elements to the engineering programme, which the charity has called Operation 2015.

Engineering director Andrew Edmondson added: “The most technically-challenging is a vital modification to the leading edges of the wings required to increase the fatigue life of the airframe.

“The second element, which is less technically-complex but in some ways even more difficult to solve, is to ensure that we have sufficient stocks of all the system components needed for the additional two flying years.”

The final item is to complete the 2013-14 Winter Service, including the rectification of any technical issues resulting from the 2013 flying season.

Dr Pleming said that, by the end of 2015, the aircraft will have flown for around 80 hours more than was anticipated when it returned to the skies in 2007.

If Operation 2015 is to be a success, the trust needs to raise £400,000. Find out more at vulcantothesky.org.