Pacific Airshow Gold Coast 2023: Plans to expand event after huge first Surfers Paradise year
The organiser of the airshow which brought hundreds of thousands of people into Surfers Paradise for a bumper weekend has giant expansion plans to “elevate” the show. HERE’S HOW
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The organiser of the airshow which brought hundreds of thousands of people into Surfers Paradise for a bumper weekend will look at expanding up and out to meet demand.
A concert series after-party for each of the three nights of the show is also being considered, copying its sister event at Huntington beach in the United States.
The first Pacific Airshow Gold Coast – locked in for four more years initially – sold 30,000 tickets from general passes to five-figure VIP ones each day. It attracted just under 100,000 paying attendees across Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Ballpark estimates of non-paying extras watching on from accommodation towers, packed venues such as the Surfers Paradise Surf Club and Paradise Centre and lining the Oceanway and beach outside the airshow exclusion zone put the overall number at 200,000-300,000.
Demand was so high the airshow added 1000 extra Sunday tickets, sold within an hour.
Pacific Airshow CEO Kevin Elliott said it had been so successful his team were looking at widening its beach footprint, going up with VIP areas and even deeper back in the street.
“We build the venue and sized it for what we thought we could sell without taking more of beach than thought we needed,” he said.
“The last thing we wanted to do was take more beach than there was demand. Fortunately for us demand met our capacity.
“Now we know there is more demand we can expand.
“Next year we plan to expand the event precinct, even wider, to accommodate more capacity.”
The airshow took over one kilometre of beachfront from Elkhorn Ave to Eileen Peters Park.
“I think we can go 50 per cent larger – there are a lot of ways we can expand, either side (of the beach area), push back in the street a bit too which would require diligent planning and traffic management. We close the street anyway so we’ll look at that,” he said.
Mr Elliott said “double-storey hospitality” was also an option.
The aviation line up would also “elevate” in future despite attendees being wowed this year by four major Australian Defence Force aircraft, including a Hercules and Hornet fighter jet plus thrill planes doing aerobatics, skydive landings on the beach and more.
“We run the biggest airshow in the US and have a great relationship with US defence forces which gives us a bit of an advantage in terms of attracting US assets,” he said.
“I heard people had to wait for trams because that many were trying to board but if that’s the worst thing that happens when bringing that many people into Surfers without one major public safety incident I would say it’s a damn success.
“We need to push communications saying here are places to go, stay in Surfers, have dinner.
“We really want to do a music festival at night – really cool because you can do all kind of things like night flights and pyrotechnics off aeroplanes, jumpers coming down with LED wingsuits. Night shows are incredible.
“We haven’t officially decided we are going to but it’s on the docket for consideration.”
Mayor Tom Tate said all expectations for the airshow had been exceeded, saying “three days of amazing weather and incredible airshow displays for 200,000 visitors … it’s obvious to me, God loves the Gold Coast”.
“What has been buzzing out here other than the planes is the big crowds of people and when you look closely at it, it’s families on Surfers Paradise beach, on the packed balconies and I’ve even got reports of people on the grass at HOTA watching on,” he said.
“For next year and beyond, we will need to see what else we can do to draw in extra crowds and I think it would be great to have concerts here so people can sit back and listen to nostalgic music at the end of the day.
“So maybe we can try and get Kenny Loggins and the music from the original Top Gun.
“The Gold Coast has shown time and time again that it can host big events and this one will be locked in as a marquee for this time of year going forward.”
Mr Tate said he would work closely with new Experience Gold Coast boss John Warn and its board to deliver more events for winter.
Mr Elliott said that in coming months his team would officially present the visitation numbers for the airshow, break down interstate and internationals, and economic impact to the council and Major Events.
But media exposure before it even started on Friday had hit $10 million worth and in Huntington it was now worth $80 million across the airshow.
The Gold Coast dates for 2024 were still being decided but it would be in a similar vicinity, he said.
Gold Coast police gave the crowds top marks for their behaviour.
“The crowds who came out to watch the spectacular aerial displays as part of the Pacific Airshow were well behaved,” the Queensland Police Service said in a statement.
“Officers thanked attendees for helping make it such a successful event, so everyone could enjoy themselves across the three days.”
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