Will air shows be cancelled because of coronavirus

[FlankerPhoto]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Airshow_360/status/1238505330197184512[/tweet]

[Paul_Reflex]

I wish our Airshow organisers would just acknowledge that they will likely cancel shows, particularly early and mid season. Take RIAT for example, they are planning to hold an event where tens of thousands of people will attend to see aircraft arrive from all over the world. They are planning to hold this event a few weeks after the period where the govt are hoping to land the peak of the epidemic. They must know that this is a non starter and will likely be cancelled, they certainly know that they should cancel. The madness is that they can’t cancel until they’re directed to because it would make the insurance companies sad.

[farnboroughrob]

One cautionary tale from the music industry. This weekend was supposed to be Country 2 Country in London, Glasgow and Dublin. Lots of US country stars over and it is a big thing, London venue is the O2. One headline band withdrew last week and there were rumors flying round yesterday after the US travel bans (although artists were not affected). Rumor is they waited to see if the COBRA meeting banned events before confirming anything for insurance purposes. So they did not announce it was postponed until 6pm last night, far too late for people to cancel hotels etc. So airshow industry you need to look ahead and don't be last minuite.com.

[canard67]

The insurance companies would be more than sad they might not pay up . RIAT might just be lucky if the peak is in mid May and the downward slope is steep. The ticket sales must be very slow now and will stop when things get really bad so they would have to reinstate sales on the gate to get a decent crowd in. It really is a shame and I hope the show survives this grim year .

[G-CVIX]

I wish our Airshow organisers would just acknowledge that they will likely cancel shows, particularly early and mid season. Take RIAT for example, they are planning to hold an event where tens of thousands of people will attend to see aircraft arrive from all over the world. They are planning to hold this event a few weeks after the period where the govt are hoping to land the peak of the epidemic. They must know that this is a non starter and will likely be cancelled, they certainly know that they should cancel. The madness is that they can’t cancel until they’re directed to because it would make the insurance companies sad.

Wouldn't you rather know they'd tried all they could to run an event? I know I would. My camping is booked and my FRIAT is paid for, I wouldn't expect any money back if it has to be cancelled. Calling it a non starter in March seems extremely pessimistic given that the prognosis changes on a day by day basis.

In my opinion the consumer has to make their own decisions. After all, if you're that sure it won't go ahead, you can claim refunds on tickets and hotels right now, minus admin fees where applicable. I think RIAT allow this until June.

[farnboroughrob]

I guess I am not alone in holding off buying tickets for anything in the next few months, not just airshows. Am planning on going to Abingdon but will not commit for atleast another 6 weeks. Same goes for RIAT and Yeovilton. Nightmare for organizers but how many events might go under and be unable to issue refunds? Thankfully we are having a stay at home year, furthest I am going is Conningsby!

[5944]

One cautionary tale from the music industry. This weekend was supposed to be Country 2 Country in London, Glasgow and Dublin. Lots of US country stars over and it is a big thing, London venue is the O2. One headline band withdrew last week and there were rumors flying round yesterday after the US travel bans (although artists were not affected). Rumor is they waited to see if the COBRA meeting banned events before confirming anything for insurance purposes. So they did not announce it was postponed until 6pm last night, far too late for people to cancel hotels etc. So airshow industry you need to look ahead and don't be last minuite.com.

They had earlier announced the cancellation of Thursday night's award ceremony 4 hours before the event, even though some bands had been saying it was cancelled 6 hours earlier. My mum and sister are in London for the weekend for it. As you can imagine, they're not best pleased with C2C at the moment.

[ErrolC]

It's easy to say that it's a gathering at an airfield but we all know about the "scrum" for the crowd line. The acres of airfield behind you makes little difference when you are "shoulder to shoulder, lens to lens" and the loos? not the cleanest of places at many shows.

It will be very interesting to see what the crowd line looks like at any Spring Shows that do go ahead.

The loos at Tyabb had large plastic triangular latches on the inside that you could open with your elbow. Overall I felt fairly comfortable with the loo experience. Also, as everyone was using camp chairs in my section of the crowd, people were fairly spaced out.

[jasonT1981]

I wish our Airshow organisers would just acknowledge that they will likely cancel shows, particularly early and mid season. Take RIAT for example, they are planning to hold an event where tens of thousands of people will attend to see aircraft arrive from all over the world. They are planning to hold this event a few weeks after the period where the govt are hoping to land the peak of the epidemic. They must know that this is a non starter and will likely be cancelled, they certainly know that they should cancel. The madness is that they can’t cancel until they’re directed to because it would make the insurance companies sad.

They won't cancel until they 100% have to cancel. And unless there is an outright public ban I don't see any cancellations announced so early here. It will probably be closer to the show. Right now organisers are planning their airshows as normal and will continue to do so unless directed otherwise, or have no choice but to do so.

Airshow season doesn't kick off until May, and RIAT is July. That is still a good while away. Even the Premier League has only postponed until first week in April. If things are still being cancelled or postponed come May 15th, then that might be time to ask about airshows.

Right now the official position will be 'we are monitoring the situation closely and will inform you if there are any changes'

[Rich.B]

I wish our Airshow organisers would just acknowledge that they will likely cancel shows, particularly early and mid season. Take RIAT for example, they are planning to hold an event where tens of thousands of people will attend to see aircraft arrive from all over the world. They are planning to hold this event a few weeks after the period where the govt are hoping to land the peak of the epidemic. They must know that this is a non starter and will likely be cancelled, they certainly know that they should cancel. The madness is that they can’t cancel until they’re directed to because it would make the insurance companies sad.

They won't cancel until they 100% have to cancel. And unless there is an outright public ban I don't see any cancellations announced so early here. It will probably be closer to the show. Right now organisers are planning their airshows as normal and will continue to do so unless directed otherwise, or have no choice but to do so.

Airshow season doesn't kick off until May, and RIAT is July. That is still a good while away. Even the Premier League has only postponed until first week in April. If things are still being cancelled or postponed come May 15th, then that might be time to ask about airshows.

Right now the official position will be 'we are monitoring the situation closely and will inform you if there are any changes'

How can they plan. Do they know if the contractors or all the volunteers will be fit and able, biggest question is will the services be there. Could all be needed for hospitals and emergency needs taking priority in the country .
With out all the infrastructure you cannnot really be sure you can put on an event. Leaving it till last minute just wont work.

[UKTopgun]

We all love airshows as otherwise we would not be on here but this year we need to accept bigger things are happening, I am preparing for most of the season to be decimated then anything else is a bonus.
Hope for the best but expect the worst.

[boff180]

Sky News are reporting the Government will introduce emergency legislation next week that will ban mass gatherings of people however, organisers will be compensated.

Andy

[Flare Path]

With the latest news, it is all but certain there will no forthcoming airshow season. Sad, but not unexpected.

[FlankerPhoto]

With the latest news, it is all but certain there will no forthcoming airshow season. Sad, but not unexpected.

Quite an assumption to make, is it not!?

Details of the legislation aren't known yet.

[alans895]

Even if RIAT isn't cancelled, surely the line up would be slim. The world has bigger things to worry about and finance, than sending assets to the UK for an Air Show.

[ErrolC]

Inbound restrictions for NZ will impact most overseas visitors to Wanaka. I don't know if it will impact any planned display pilots.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/c ... 9-outbreak

[boff180]

With the latest news, it is all but certain there will no forthcoming airshow season. Sad, but not unexpected.

Quite an assumption to make, is it not!?

Details of the legislation aren't known yet.

Actually I think he is talking quite a lot of sense. These restrictions will be in place until after the peak... which is scheduled for June/July.

I hope he is wrong but part of me thinks he isn’t.

Also - all bus Tours from Pima around the boneyard are cancelled from Monday until further notice

[Sideslip]

I for one think the airshows should be cancelled this year. Surely our moral responsibility to try and protect the health of others, particularly the more vulnerable in society should override our own personal pleasure of seeing aeroplanes flying.

[G-CVIX]

I for one think the airshows should be cancelled this year. Surely our moral responsibility to try and protect the health of others, particularly the more vulnerable in society should override our own personal pleasure of seeing aeroplanes flying.

Would you say the same for an outbreak of regular flu or any of the other illnesses which regularly kill more people? I understand this is more severe, but i cannot understand this notion that events four months away should be cancelled when we still don't know much about what is currently happening.

Just because they are saying it will peak in June/July, that information might change next week.

It's not selfish to hope that you can still do the things you enjoy. No, I don't want vulnerable people to suffer, but you're still allowed to hope that events take place. That doesn't mean you have poor morals.

[Paul_Reflex]

We know plenty about what is happening, that’s the point. It’s playing out in several countries ahead of us and some of those countries, Korea for example, have provided a lot of very good data. Added to which, the modelling of these events is fairly straightforward. It’s nice that you’re optimistic, that’s certainly not immoral. What is immoral is continuing to take money from people for events that are never going to happen.

[farnboroughrob]

I think this year could be a spotting non event overall. I can see the may/June events being cancelled in the next few weeks. I am hopeful for a reduced number of enets in July-September. Plus there is likely to be little for us civil spotters to see as airlines massivley cut back.

Football suprised me yesterday, yes all professional games are off. Thats sensible with 50K people in close contact. However even my local village team at step 3 (average gate 200) and all the local park football have been called off for a week at least! For me that is very much premature, it has been bad enough that so many games have been claimed by the weather, then this. Will we see the sam efor the many small fly-ins this year? Was so looking forward to summer after this sh1t winter.

[G-CVIX]

We know plenty about what is happening, that’s the point. It’s playing out in several countries ahead of us and some of those countries, Korea for example, have provided a lot of very good data. Added to which, the modelling of these events is fairly straightforward. It’s nice that you’re optimistic, that’s certainly not immoral. What is immoral is continuing to take money from people for events that are never going to happen.

Surely that is up to the consumer if they want to take the risk though? No one is being mislead. No one is being forced to buy tickets. Saying that you have no intention of canceling is not saying it is definitely going ahead.

[pbeardmore]

It must be a nightmare for the organisers of any large event. Whatever decision they take, they will take flack from some direction. Regarding RIAT, we just don't know all of the variables (their cancellation rights re subcontrators for example). Cancelling at the last minute (whilst keeping options open) does lead to bad PR IMHO whilst cancelling too early is also a gamble.

IF, if ...the peak does occur early and if they do manage to hold the show, I would expect/hope that the punters would be understanding re cancellations and ammendments to the show. We are in exceptional circumstances and to expect a full blown RIAT (with guests from all over the globe) is too high an expectation IMHO. We are lucky in the UK to still have a decent domestic range of aircraft to fill in. Other years may see a Harvard, for example, denounced with derision. This year,if it goes ahead, just grateful to be out enjoying the fresh air, good health, company of friends and stewed flask tea.

A time perhaps to redraw and review our expections? not just for RIAT but for the whole season

[Stagger2]

I noticed that tickets for the IWM Duxford BoB. Air-show in September are "Non-transferable & Non-refundable" according to their website. I don't think that this COVID 19 will affect this show by then, unless you buy a ticket now & then die from the virus!
Either way....it works out to be a donation to a cause near to our hearts? Now singalong.....'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life..'

[Pen Pusher]

From BBC web site:

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead as planned in July, despite coronavirus concerns resulting in the postponement of sporting events.

Abe added the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have the final decision whether Tokyo 2020 goes ahead.

Brian