DATES have been announced for next year’s Bournemouth Air Festival, after more than 600,000 people came to Bournemouth’s beaches to enjoy the annual event.
Organisers have announced the 2023 show is likely to take place from Thursday, August 31 for four days until Sunday, September 3.
Jon Weaver, BCP Council's director of the Air Festival for more than 14 years, described this year’s event as “a successful rollercoaster ride”.
Mr Weaver said he has been left surprised by the way the weather has turned out for this year, with initial forecasts predicting rain – but in reality, it was warm with patches of blue sky.
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He said: “There's a lot of buildup and then the weather was looking very precarious. Fortunately, it didn’t do what it was supposed to do.
“It was unexpected but brilliant because we were sitting around preparing for changes of events, ironically not because of rain but because of wind.”
Some 600,000 people flocked down to see the planes this year. Jon added: “Thursday was great, Friday was stronger.
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“And then there was Saturday: it was one of the biggest we’ve had in a few years. The intensity of the crowds; it got to incredible levels.
“What we have found is that quite a lot of local people came this year and we are quite pleased with that.”
2022’s air show saw two new displays: a B-52 bomber plane fly-by and a race between a Sunseeker power boat and a Muscle bi-plane, which Jon said has been an “enormous success”.
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He added: “We’ve also had some new formations which have gone well: the Typhoon with the Spitfire, the Chinook flying with the Blades. They’re really good to give the crowd some more.
“We’ve been really fortunate to have the Red Arrows come down for all four days once again, as well as the Typhoon and the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.”
The Air Festival has also been good for the local economy, with a turnover in the region of £25 million plus. Most of the traders and hospitality along the front will have benefited from this, it's claimed.
Work for next year’s Air Festival will start shortly before Christmas.
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