BCP Council looking for sponsors to take on Bournemouth Air Festival
BCP Council has confirmed that this will be the last ever council funded Bournemouth Air Festival
Bournemouth Air Festival may be paused in 2025 to allow a new sponsor to take on the event for 2026.
BCP Council has announced it will no longer fund the free air show after this year due to financial challenges.
Leader of BCP Council, Millie Earl told us: “We understand people are keen to know what’s happening with the Bournemouth Air Festival after this year’s event.
“Our task now is to look to the commercial sector and private businesses to see if they can take it on.
“Obviously, councils across the country are really struggling with their budgets and we have to prioritise essential services so the Air Show is something we feel we can quite successfully pass on.”
The council say they have spoken with “several potential operators” around the future of the Air Festival but “no decision has been made yet “.
In an updated statement, BCP Council said: “A potential future operator could decide to pause the production of an air festival in 2025 to allow time to plan and refresh the event for 2026.”
Cllr Millie Early added: “The Air Show is a brand, it's iconic and we think this is an opportunity for a company to make money from it rather than cost the taxpayer nearly half a million pounds every year.”
“The Air Show continues to be a really popular event, not just for local residents and visitors but local businesses as well.”
For yet another year the event has attracted tens of thousands of people to the south coast, boosting the local economy.
Talks of a ‘tourist tax’, which would see visitors charged around £2 per night per room to stay in hotels, are still ongoing.
Cllr Earl said: “Hotels greatly benefit from Air Show weekend so hoteliers have got together and are considering how they can help keep the event alive and attract more tourists to the area.
“A lot of work has gone into the Bournemouth Air Festival 2024 and we’d like to thank all our partners who have worked with us to pull off what will be a fantastic event.”