Sunderland International Airshow

Sunderland International Airshow

Avro Vulcan XH558, the last flying Vulcan Bomber, makes its first appearance at the Sunderland Airshow on 25 July 2009
Genre Air show
Dates July
Frequency Annual
Location(s) Sunderland, England
Coordinates 54°55′44″N 1°21′50″W / 54.929°N 1.364°W / 54.929; -1.364Coordinates: 54°55′44″N 1°21′50″W / 54.929°N 1.364°W / 54.929; -1.364
Country United Kingdom
Established 1988
Attendance Over 1 million (over a two-day period)
Organised by Sunderland City Council
Website
www.sunderlandinternationalairshow.co.uk

Sunderland International Airshow is the biggest free annual airshow in Europe, held at the Roker and Seaburn seafronts. It takes place over the course of three days, usually the final weekend in July (Friday to Sunday), and attracts around 1,000,000 spectators every year.[1] The airshow features a large number of planes, including the Red Arrows and the Eurofighter Typhoon. In addition to the planes, the seafront plays host to a range of food counters, stalls and fairground games. The Royal Navy traditionally have a warship off the coast every year, usually HMS Ocean, the adopted warship of Sunderland, however in 2007, HMS Albion made an appearance instead as HMS Ocean had other commitments. The airshow was first held in 1989 as a single day show, and was planned to be a one-off event, when it attracted 250,000 spectators. Due to its success, from 1991 it became a two-day show, and subsequently three days. Due to thick fog and mist in 2008, the airshow was cancelled after only one plane had flown. The Friday night launch is rounded off with a large firework display.[2]

Affiliations

Durham Tees Valley Airport is used as a base for most of the flying displays, compared with previous use of Newcastle Airport, this is possibly because Tees Valley has fewer flights resulting in faster turnarounds for aircraft departing and arriving from the airshow. Newcastle Airport significantly increased the fees it charged for all except the prestigious aircraft.

Newcastle International Airport was used up until 2007, the only aircraft in the 2007 show to use Newcastle were the C-130K Hercules of the RAF Falcons Parachuting team, and the Eastern Airways BAe Jetstream 41 North East England Livery and the Red Arrows. The organisers stopped using this as the main airport because they have a tight flight schedule with many more low cost flights departing now than in previous years.

Since 2014, most of the airshow's aircraft have departed from Newcastle Airport.

The Green Airshow

In 2007 Sunderland City Council teamed up with Gentoo and CarbonNeutral North East to reduce and offset all the emissions caused by staging the two-day show. There was a Green Village with many environmental stalls.

Highlights

The show has had many highlights over the years, including:[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Sunderland International Airshow enjoyed by thousands".
  2. ↑ "Friday Night Launch Event".
  3. ↑ "Flying Display".
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