Confirmation Festival of Flight will now go ahead

Confirmation Festival of Flight will now go ahead

12 April 2017

NEWCASTLE’S Festival of Flight will go ahead this year despite concerns that planning for the event is many months behind schedule.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council, which last week declined to comment on the future of the Festival, has broken its silence to confirm the event will go ahead on August 5 and will be in the same format as last year.

The council said the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight are expected to return to the Newcastle event and it is believed a number of other air displays are also in the pipeline. But the Red Arrows has yet to confirm its appearance.

However, the council has only this week began the process for appointing the festival director for this year.

Rick Peacock-Edwards, who handled the 2016 Festival, was approved by councillors on the Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism (ERT) Committee on Monday and the decision must now go before the next meeting of the full council before it becomes official.

The council has yet to hold any planning meetings for the Festival involving the PSNI, Fire and Rescue Service, Coastguard, RNLI, Ambulance Service and health and safety experts. Normally these meetings begin early in the year.

The Festival of Flight is one of the largest tourist events in Northern Ireland, regularly attracting over 80,000 people to Newcastle.

However, in recent months council sources have indicated there has been difficulties in getting this year’s event off the ground, leading to a delay in appointing the festival director and beginning the planning schedule.

Last week the Recorder asked the council for a comment on the future of the Festival of Flight, but the council failed to issue a statement or comment by the time we went to press.

On Wednesday afternoon, six days after the Recorder first sought a comment from the council the following brief statement was issued:

“The Festival of Flight 2017 event will be in the same format as last year and will be held on Saturday, August 5, in Newcastle, Co Down. The Red Arrows have been asked to take part in this year’s event and a press release with further details is planned for issue during April 2017.”