An all-new Australian airshow was launched on 27 April, to be held on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
The event will be known as the Pacific Airshow Gold Coast and is a sister event to the successful Pacific Airshow, held at Huntington Beach in southern California. The annual event will be a waterfront airshow featuring both civil and military performers and will be held each August, beginning in 2023. The event will be run by the organisers of the US event, Code Four.
The 2021 US event was seen by more than three million people and the show is the only event in the US to win the US Air Force Show Site of the Year, in 2018 and 2019.
Code Four CEO Kevin Elliott told ADM the new event, to be held on the beach and along the Esplanade on the Gold Coast, has the support of current Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business Stuart Robert, as well as Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.
“The timing couldn’t be better, given the bilateral relationships that are continuing to propagate between the US and Australia and this is an opportunity for us to continue to take steps forward in that regard,” Elliott said. “The Gold Coast is a global event destination, it’s an iconic destination with major event infrastructure. There aren’t many places that have a beautiful long, straight beach and that have the infrastructure to be able to accommodate something like this.”
The timing of the airshow is aligned around the conclusion of the Talisman Sabre and the beginning of Pitch Black biennial exercises and hopes to leverage participation from assets that will be already in-country. “The US military has given us positive indications that they are inclined to support the event,” Elliott said.
But he added that the event is not just an airshow, but an event which will eventually grow to have many other attractions, including STEM displays.
“We are working with local industry to curate that, because one of the biggest challenges is inspiring young people to want to work in aviation,” he said. “Encouraging programs such as [Boeing’s] Loyal Wingman and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle technology by bringing all of that to the Gold Coast and provide something that people can see, touch and understand. Also providing Defence with an opportunity for recruitment and forming ongoing partnerships with local universities.”
