Trade day visitors to the 2019 Australian International Airshow set a new attendance record, but the crowd figures for the public days were down.
According to the Aerospace Maritime Defence and Security Foundation of Australia (AMDSFA), the show's organisers 698 participating companies, 161 official industry and government delegations and 38,952 visitors attended across the industry days Tuesday 26 February to Thursday 28 February.
The visitor figure is 14.5% higher than that recorded at Avalon 2017.
However, AMDSFA has described the public day attendance figures as "soft", with the 132,878 visitors on the Friday 1 March to Sunday 3 March public days 25% down on the 176,742 recorded for Avalon 2017.
The lower figure has been attributed to the heat wave that endured throughout the entire six days. Despite that, Avalon 2019 CEO Ian Honnery was upbeat about the results.
“As an international aerospace industry exposition, Avalon 2019 was a record‐breaker in both exhibitor numbers and trade day attendances, with a host of major industry announcements and significant international participation from a total of 37 countries,” Honnery said.
“Once again Avalon was a dynamic platform for interaction between industry, government, academia and defence. And once again it showcased Australian industry to the world, by bringing the world to Australia.
“As one of the largest single public events in the Australian calendar it was a standout success, offering the sheer excitement of seeing some of the world’s most spectacular modern and historic aircraft put through their paces right in front of the crowd.”
Avalon 2021 is expected to break all attendance records as the Royal Australian Air Force, one of the biggest supporters of the Australian International Airshow, celebrates its centenary year.