This is Flight

The Leszno Airshow began life in 2006 as the Leszno Glider Picnic, led by an enthusiastic team of volunteers and staff at Leszno Airfield. It quickly grew into a fully-fledged airshow – the Leszno Air Picnic – peaking in 2016.

After the hugely successful 2016 show, the event was scaled back due to funding difficulties, becoming the SoundAir Festival. Slated to return as the Leszno Airshow in June 2020, the event was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but was re-organised in August under the name Antidotum Airshow Leszno.

The Antidotum Airshow came back for a second show in June 2021, attracting its first foreign military participation (the Swiss Air Force’s Super Puma) as well as hugely bolstered support from the Polish Air Force (C-130, F-16 and Aerobatic Team Orlik). The show now runs each June and has rapidly grown from around 5,000 spectators to 80,000. It has become one of the biggest players in central Europe for international military participation. The show is also supported by Red Bull, who have contributed a number of warbird and aerobatic acts rarely seen elsewhere. The show is perhaps most notable for its one-off displays, combat re-enactments and comedy acts, some of which require years of work behind the scenes. Examples include dropping a rougue car from a helicopter in 2023, and dropping a manned glider from a hovering helicopter in 2024.

Visitors to Leszno can expect to see all manner of flying machines: jet fighters, trainers, airlifters, helicopters, gliders, motorgliders, paragliders, paramotors, hot air balloons and warbirds of the rotary, jet, single-engine piston and multi-engine variaties can usually all be seen in the space of a single day. Formation teams, too, come in all shapes and sizes, from unpowered to piston-powered, turboprops, jets and various combinations thereof.

The Antidotum Airshow is a Friday and Saturday affair, with the flying display starting at around 15:00 and running until 22:30pm. The show is accompanied by live music by the Representitive Orchestra of the Polish Air Force, performed on a stage at show centre. Live footage from drones chasing the display aircraft through the sky is relayed to big screens around the showground.

Ticket prices have fluctuated each year and sell rapidly.

General admission tickets are grouped into pools, starting with a promotional earlybird pool released on New Year’s Day. In 2025, the cost was 35zł (about €6/£6/$9). The price increases through each tranche of tickets, with Final Call tickets selling for 90zł (€21/£18/$23). There is a small discount for children under 12.

Note that tickets sell out quickly; the first batch of cut-price tickets will disappear within minutes of being released, and all tickets (particularly for Saturday) can be expected to sell out weeks prior to the airshow.

Parking costs an additional 25zł. Car parks are located off-site and linked to the show by shuttle bus (see: Getting There).

There are two upgrade options, both of which cost 200zł per day (€47/£40/$50). These are called Comfort Zone and Spotter tickets. Parking is included in both of these prices. Beware that spotter tickets are immensely popular and sell out within hours of being launched.

Those who hold spotter tickets enjoy parking in the nearest car park to the airfield, and access to three spotter zones.

• Show centre: A photo pit with standing-only bleachers precisely located at show centre, ideal for catching the flying displays from a conventional perspective. Sunset will take place in front of you.
• Show right: A photo pit at the extreme right end of the showground. This is popular with photographers as pilots often perform photogenic topside passes around the corner of the spectator area. Standing-only bleachers are available. Sunset will take place in front of you.
• North side: The third and final photo pit is underneath the aerobatic box, on the opposite side of the runway. The advantage, aside from being closer to the action, is that take offs and landings occur with the sun behind you. However, the trade-off is that this photo pit is not ideally located to enjoy formation displays, comedy acts and ground pyrotechnics in the manner that the pilots and organisers intended. As it is difficult to travel between this area and the main showground once the airshow is in progress, a large marquee and toilets are provided.

The showground at Leszno is small and thoughtfully laid out, with most acts using the closest runway to the crowd (05R/23L). However, even in this small showground, there are four viewing spots that stand out from the rest.

WEST SPOTTER ZONE: As many aircraft use the right hand corner of the crowdline for dramatic topside passes, this really is the place to be for photographers, especially during the daytime portion of the show. If you are not an accredited spotter, then the general spectator area to the right of the Spotter Zone will also do.

Steep topside passes look fantastic from the West Spotter Zone

SHOW CENTRE/CENTRAL SPOTTER ZONE: This is denoted by the live music stage. Leszno famously intergrates several of its performances with ground-launched pyrotechnics, and this looks by far the best from show centre. This makes the area around the stage one of the prime viewing spots, especially during the night portion of the show. Just beside the stage is another spotter zone.

Many manoeuvres by the formation teams look at their best from show centre – like this one. Side on, it would lose its impact.

From show centre, sunset occurs directly behind the display aircraft, providing magical photo opportunities.

UNDER THE BOX: New for 2023, a third Spotter Zone was set up under the aerobatic box. Beware that transport to and from this zone can be limited, as it is the opposite side of the active runways; you will need to chase opportunities to get out here, and expect to stay put until the end of the show. It yields some amazing views (and you have the advantage of having the sun behind your back when aircraft fly between you and the crowd) but beware of the safety risks of spectating from this area.

OFF-SITE VIEWING: Due to traffic congestion, it is not practical to park on the roads around the airfield on airshow days. However, the road passing the threshold of Runway 23R/L is generally quiet on non-event days and spectators have been spotted here for Thursday practices and Sunday departures.

Looking down the runway from the 27L theshold on departures day

BY PLANE:

The nearest international airports are in Poznan and Wrocław, both with bus connections to the city centre and railway station. Each airports are served by various European low cost airlines, primarily Wizzair and Ryanair. From Poznan and Wrocław, there are fast, cheap and frequent trains to Leszno.

BY CAR:

Lotnisko Leszno is easily accessible by car, located just 2km from the S5 Expressway. However, local roads suffer from limited traffic capacity, causing severe congestion. All parking is located off-site and a shuttle bus is needed to travel between the car parks and the event. The show has also been criticised for poor traffic control upon departure – not ideal, when it’s nearly midnight and everybody wants to get home! For this reason, we recommend avoiding travelling by car if possible. If you do need to drive, arrive at the car parks no later than 13:30, and brace yourself for a very late night.

BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT:

Leszno is served by fast trains to Poznan and Wroclaw approximately once per hour, as well as less regular services to several other Polish cities. These are very reasonably priced (approximately 5-10zł) and the journey time is 50-90 minutes, depending on which service you catch.

Generally, scheduled train services peter out after 10pm.  However, the airshow now runs two special trains (one from Poznan, one from Wrocław), which arrive in Leszno at approximately 15:00 and depart at around midnight. These trains are free for all airshow ticket-holders.

Our suggestion is to travel to the airshow on a regular train in the morning, which you will have to pay for (the official airshow train arrives very close to the start of the flying display, and you may miss the opening performances). However, use the free airshow train to get home from the airshow at the end of the night.

Free public buses run between the airshow and railway station.

ON FOOT/BY BICYCLE:

The airshow is a 45 minute, 4km walk from Leszno railway station, and a 50 minute walk from the town centre. Free, secure bicycle parking is also available.

The most convenient accomodation options are immediately outside the airport. Ach To Tu and MO&JA Motel Leszno offer modest accomodation, including free parking and breakfast for guests, and are located opposite the airfield office, just a two minute walk from the airshow site. However, beware that both facilities sell out months in advance of the show, as they are used by the event organisers to accomodate visiting aircrew.

There are numerous hotel options in central Leszno to suit all tastes and budgets. However, these will become depleted by January or February. Our suggestion: book early and find accomodation within walking distance of the show.

Accomodation in Poznan is available at shorter notice, if you don’t mind commuting by train each day.

Camping is available at the airfield. A tent pitch costs 50zł for the duration of the show, car parking is 100zł and a camper van/caravan is 150zł. Additionally, there is a 40zł fee per guest.  This means a family of four with a tent and car could camp for 310zł. Entry tickets to the airshow itself must be purchased seperately.

There are no formal practice/arrival days for the Leszno Airshow, and the airfield is open as normal until the first day of the show. It is easy to find a spot on the airfield to watch the rehearsals, or, if not, it is possible to park on the road passing the Runway 23L/R thresholds.

Airshow-related activity can begin as early as one week before the show, but will ramp up on Thursday lunchtime. The bulk of the arrivals take place through Thursday afternoon and on Friday morning. Practice displays will continue until around 13:30 on Friday. Gates open to the public at midday, so arrive as early as you can and you may catch some extra flying action before the show officially begins.

On Saturday, there is very little activity before the official start of the flying display.