Minority sport?! You perhaps missed the memo that said airshows are the second most popular outdoor attraction in the UK. The first is football.

It’s an interesting claim, oft repeated, and one that I’ve seen no actual figures to back up. I think it came originally from an airshow commentator but stand to be corrected on that.

I suspect that if true figures were found live music would almost certainly feature well above airshows in terms of spectator numbers. Possibly sports such as rugby and cricket as well, maybe motorsport too.

Regardless, it is going to be a hard sell to the general public these days. 20 years ago many non-aviation folk I know made the annual trip to Mildenhall, at a tenner a carload it made a cheap family day out. I suspect most of them don’t visit any airshows now. With the demise of the big military shows that attracted many casual local visitors at reasonable cost, airshows have become much more of a specialist enthusiast pastime over the past 20 or so years.

Therefore we all need to do our bit. I’ve replied to the CAA consultation document and written to my MP. I wonder how many posting on here have done the same. I’ve also signed the online petition, although I’m frankly skeptical that these things have any effect whatsoever on Government policy.

The costs apply according to who is organising the airshow. If it is a civilian-run show under the jurisdiction of the CAA (regardless of whether individual participants are civilian or military) the fees must be paid to the CAA. If it is a military show which comes under the auspices of the MAA, then I understand that no fee is levied by the CAA.

I’m not sure where you get your figures from Easyrider. The 5,000 attendees for an OW show sounds like a made-up number (with a degree of wishful thinking attached)

The true figures are readily available online at: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends34/0000307534_AC_20141031_E_C.pdf

They show that in 2014 (the last year for which figures are available) a total of 18,684 people attended airshows there, so an average of around 2,000 per event.

The increase in cost is not £900 per event, but around £2,000, as there is also a doubling of the event fee as well as the new post-event charge. That means an addition of around £20,000 to the cost of events at OW of the course of a season, a not inconsiderable sum. And that is before any possible increases in insurance, policing costs and charges made by visiting display items (which will presumably also need to increase in order to recover the additional costs they will be incurring) etc.

Click on the link at the top of my opening post, it will take you to the document where you can see the rates. They are rated in bands according to the number of items appearing.