Airshow throttles down after record event

THE Australian International Airshow has made an enormous return to the tarmac and the sky above Avalon Airport, with an estimated 248,000 people coming through the gates.

COVID-19 forced the closure of the biennal event in 2019 and 2021, but aviation-associated industries and the public flocked back to the expo and airshow respectively, which ran from February 28 to March 5, for the first time in six years.

Attendance during the public days peaked on Saturday, which sold out two days earlier and saw 80,000 people come to the site.

The AMDA Foundation runs the airshow, and chief executive officer Justin Giddings said the event’s attendance and impact was equivalent to “two-and-a-half AFL Grand Finals in six days”.

“It’s the biggest event probably held in regional Victoria, and it was very, very successful.

“It’s easily Geelong’s biggest event.

“The economic benefits are huge – we alone book out 1,000 rooms in Geelong and Melbourne.

“To have the Black Eagles for the first time in Australia was a huge success, they’re great guys; to have so many children here, I think we had 600 children through the STEM tent on Friday; so many parents walking around with their kids; the fireworks on Friday night were incredible… certainly there’s room for improvement and room for change and we’re doing that.

“But I must say, it was the biggest event we’ve had so far, and it’s a good platform to have for next time.”

He said staging the airshow was a massive effort, and he was proud of all involved.

“We obviously have a lot of professional staff here but we also had 600 volunteers who come from all around the world to help us.

“We’re probably now the fourth-largest airshow in the world, and we’re unique in that we have an exposition as well as an airshow.

“On the trade days we had 25 chiefs of air force from around the world, which is a totally different setting – there’s a little bit of flying on those days, but not much, because everyone’s in conferences and meetings and we need to keep the noise down.”