A report produced by BCP Council has recommended the Council “stops any further work on an Air Festival for 2026 onwards.”
Since the last council funded Air Festival in 2024, BCP Council has been engaged in a process to move the event into commercial hands and reduce the financial burden on the council.
The final Council-funded Air Festival took place from 29th-31st August 2024 with a budget of £248,000. The festival saw good weather throughout attracting 500,000 visitors. Two potential organisations emerged in 2024 and during the following October, BCP Council voted to proceed with talks with an American operator with experience of organisation large seafront ‘commercial’ airshows.
The potential operator proposed the closure of the seafront area between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers to the public with this area become fully commercialised with various levels of hospitality ranging in price. However, the proposed plans also required financial input from the Council and were assessed as fundamentally changing the specification which went out to market. The report goes on to say that sponsorship was also sort for a 2026 event but no offers had been forthcoming.
In an appraisal of the option put forward the report says that the American proposal differs so much from the specification put to market that “in order to ensure openness and fairness with the market we [BCP Council] would need to tender the opportunity if their requests are considered appropriate.” The appraisal also goes on to say “to enable the model, a full closure of the open space would be required and non-negotiable to include the foreshore and promenade without access. This would contravene The Open Spaces Act 1906.” Conversations have continued to take place with the potential operators but the report goes on to say “it is recognised that a minimum of 12 months planning time will be required for an event in 2026 which would mean agreement on a Heads of Terms would be required by the end of June 2026.” The appraisal concludes that “this option has been discounted due to the additional timescales required and the financial and legal constraints on the proposals.”
Last night (9th June), the BCP Council board debated the report ahead of a final decision at a council Cabinet meeting on 18th June and voted to accept the recommendation of the report. There is still some debate on the true cost of the Air Festival to the council with some figures quoted said to include the wages of BCP Council staff who are simply brought in from their normal duties to fulfil roles within the organisation of the event.
The loss of the Air Festival will be keenly felt. Local hospitality businesses lose a major event on their doorstep that brought in plenty of trade for three days at the end of the summer season.
More widely, the loss of the Air Festival is a big hit for the UK air display industry. It was one of the centrepiece events of the season due to its scale and the sheer amount of innovation the event brought to air displays since the inaugural event in 2007. Significantly, when air displays are said to attract an annual audience of just over 4 million, a statistic that the British Air Display Association proudly boasted at the end of 2024, losing 500,000 spectators in one hit marks a significant loss with few new events on the horizon.
