Tickets for the Warbirds over Wānaka International Airshow 2024 are now on sale and organisers are looking forward to the return of the event after a lengthy six-year break.

The perennially popular airshow, which usually takes place every two years, was last held in 2018, attracting 55,000 visitors over three days, but in March 2020 the airshow was one of the first major events to be cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Two years later the event suffered the same fate, Warbirds Over Wānaka general manager Ed Taylor said.

“By the time Easter 2024 rolls around our organisation will have had to survive six years with no ticket revenue,” he said.  

“We have only managed to stay in business through the generosity of our amazing funders, sponsors and individual supporters.”

It was plain old “bad luck” to be caught at the very start and very end of pandemic restrictions, Ed said.

He is expecting strong numbers at the next airshow.

“If our tour group and other booking enquiries are anything to go by we are going to have a bumper crowd come next Easter.”

Warbirds Over Wānaka 2014 as seen from the cockpit of an RAAF Hawk Jet Aircraft.

The first significant aircraft to be confirmed for the airshow is the last surviving Royal New Zealand Air Force P-51D Mustang in the country, which hasn’t flown since 1957 and has been under restoration by Brendon Deere at Ohakea for more than two years.

Other major new aerial acts from both New Zealand and overseas will be announced over the coming months as they are confirmed.

On the ground a significant new attraction is also planned: The Future of Aviation Exhibition will feature the likes of New Zealand’s first electric aircraft and an autonomous electric air taxi along with companies exploring the use of solar, hydrogen and other propulsion technologies.

“There is so much going on in the aviation industry aimed at tackling the effects of climate change and we’ve had a huge response from companies wanting to show our visitors first hand what’s happening,” Ed said.

Tickets for Warbirds Over Wanaka are on sale now.

PHOTOS: Warbirds Over Wānaka