What are the criteria for inclusion in this airshow calendar?
We try to include all substantial public flying displays. For the purpose of this calendar, a “substantial” flying display is one with at least one hour of flying display activity comprising at least five distict acts. A mass flypast or air parade counts as a single act. Standard aviation operations (take offs, landings and circuit work that does not include an organised flypast or display) are not included in this measure.

Trade shows are included, provided that they meet the criteria for ‘substantial’ flying displays and there is some possibility of public access (either in a dedicated public area, on specific public day(s), or if it is possible for the public to procure trade passes without having to provide proof of employment within the aviation industry). If there are access restrictions, this will generally be noted in the far right column.

What does the gold star mean?
These are the enthusiast must-attend events, either because they offer an unparalleled line up or unusually spectacular photographic conditions – or both. These are the shows which we predict will produce the most iconic images, attract the rarest aircraft and generally make the most hardcore airshow enthusiasts salivate with anticipation.

What events are intentionally excluded?
We do not generally include air races, flyovers, parades, fly-ins, aerobatic competitions or aviation trade expositions unless they have a substantial formal flying display, nor do we include small air displays at non-aviation events (eg. sporting events, concerts or carnivals).

Single-item flying displays, such as a one-off performance by a touring aerobatic team that is not part of a wider airshow, are not generally included.

Airshow practice sessions are not generally included, even if there is substantial and well-publicised public access.

Private airshows (those which can only be attended by invitation, or through membership of an organisation, such as family days, fly-in airshows and corporate events) are generally not included unless they have a substantial flying display, are well-publicised in the public sphere, and have at least some formalised or well-known means through which members of the public can watch the show.

Where does the information come from?
Airshow dates are drawn from a number of sources, but primarily: airshow calendars published by, or endorsed by, industry organisations such as the International Council of Air Shows, Airshows South Africa or France Spectacle Aerien; display schedules published by airshow performers; and direct first-hand information from airshows’ official websites and social media accounts. Certain annual events that occur on set dates (such as a nation’s re-occuring Air Force Day or National Day airshow) might be included as a matter of course without an explicit announcement about the 2024 edition having been made.

Information about “headliners” comes from a variety of official and official-affiliated sources. For example, it could come from the airshow’s own website, an industry body such as the International Council of Air Shows, an announcement from the performer themselves, or a news article from a reliable media outlet quoting a named source at one of the prior listed organisations. We don’t have the space or time to name sources for every single aircraft/team listed here, nor are we able to completely confirm the accuracy of these listings as most will not have been explicitly confirmed by all parties involved; please accept that although the Headliners column will be accurate more often than not, errors will occur. Inclusion here does not reflect official, cast-iron confirmation of a performer’s participation a specific event. Furthermore, it does not suggest that the performer will fly on every single day of the event.

Is the calendar completely accurate?
No. Inevitably, processing this amount of data will lead to occasional errors, either through typographical mistakes, formatting mistakes, mistranslation of foreign-language text or – most commonly – because we may be working with incomplete or outdated information. It is likely that a large number of airshows are missing from this list simply because we are not aware of their existance – especially in countries such as Russia and China, which use different social media networks and have little in the way of English-language local journalism. Likewise, it is possible that some of the airshows listed here may have been cancelled or could have changed dates, and that these changes may not have been brought to our attention. Before attending one of these airshows, always cross-check the information here against the show’s official website. If you spot any mistakes or missing shows, let us know!

Why is the airshow calendar North America-centric?
There are two reasons why this airshow calendar is weighted towards airshows in North America. The first and most obvious reason is that the USA has more major airshows than any other nation, with over 150 flying displays per year. This compares to about 40 per year in the UK and France, and far fewer in all other countries.

The second reason is that North American airshows are planned far in advance and the industry is collectively represented by ICAS, who do a good job of publicising airshows of all kinds and sizes in North America and listing them on an easily-accessible airshow calendar. ICAS publishes the dates and partial performer line ups of most major US airshows more than a year in advance, making it easy to keep track of virtually every airshow under their juristiction. Likewise, US airshow performers typically have websites and social media pages where they announce schedules months in advance, allowing us to populate the ‘Headliners’ column long before most airshows in Europe and Asia are even known about.

The North American portion of this calendar is largely complete by December the previous year. European, South African and Japanese portions should be largely complete by April of the year in question. Some other countries such as China, Russia and Brazil, also host a number of airshows annually, but they are usually announced at very short notice, publicised only in the native language and discussed on region-specific social media platforms like Telegram and Weibo. Additionally, many major Asian and South American aerobatic teams do not have websites and do not publish detailed schedules. This makes it hard for us to keep track events in this region and populate our calendar, but we do our best and will continue to make additions throughout the year.

As the bulk of our readership is in Europe, Australia and North America, our focus is on compiling airshows in those particular regions. However, we always try to add airshows in all other regions as and when we become aware of them. Despite the challenges of compiling all airshows in all regions, we believe our calendar is the most comprehensive single list of global airshows in 2026.