WHEN it comes to air displays, size matters – but who really has the biggest and the best?

Bournemouth Tourism is promising that this year’s More Bus Air Festival is “the UK’s biggest free aviation festival”.

Yet this year has also seen Eastbourne declare that its Airbourne event is “the world’s biggest free seafront airshow” while Sunderland proclaims that its international airshow is “the biggest free airshow in Europe”.

Bournemouth’s claims have not gone down well with Eastbourne, who earlier this year called for a “head-to-head airshow challenge” with Bournemouth.

The introduction of an admission charge made last year’s Eastbourne event a financial disaster but they are now determined to reclaim their place as the top free show with appearances by the Red Arrows on all four days.

A spokesperson for Eastbourne Borough Council said: “Bournemouth are only just entering their second year while we have an unrivalled background, regularly attracting top flying displays year in, year out.

“It’s going to take a lot for Bournemouth to steal our crown.”

But Jon Weaver, events and marketing manager at Bournemouth Tourism, said Bournemouth didn’t need to compete with Eastbourne because Bournemouth’s event, due to run from August 20 to 23, was an “air festival” rather than an “air show”.

“We specifically wanted to be different and that’s why we decided to go down that route,” he said.

“The core of the Bournemouth event is an air show but there’s the night-time events as well and things like Roar on the Shore, a world-record attempt to launch 110,000 fireworks in a minute.

“We’re trying to build up to more than an air show. We want to be a proper festival. That’s our claim – we’re trying to be a bigger and broader event.

“In terms of numbers, last year we had an estimated three quarters of a million people visit the air festival and so we are one of the biggest outdoor shows around.

“But our vision is to build it beyond an air show.”

Just to confuse matters further, the website aviation.com ranks just two UK shows in its top 10.

Only the Farnborough Airshow (number nine) and the Royal International Air Tattoo (four) warrant a mention.

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