Bournemouth Air Festival is a festival at Bournemouth Beach, the town centre, over 4 days in August 2026. It is organised by BCP Council.
When and where
It runs from Thursday 27 August 2026 to Sunday 30 August 2026, 4 days in all. Listed dates: Thu 27 – Sun 30 Aug 2026.
It is held at Bournemouth Beach, on Pier Approach in the town centre (BH2 5AA).
Tickets and entry
Entry is free. Individual elements inside a free event can still be ticketed, so check before building a day around one of them.
Before you go
Programmes for multi-day festivals are usually published close to the date and change during the weekend itself.
What actually happens
Flying runs over Poole Bay through the afternoon, with the display line out over the water rather than above the crowd. The four days each carry their own programme, and the part the festival is best known for happens after dark: aircraft fitted with lights fly against a black sky with pyrotechnics, usually closing with fireworks. The Red Arrows have flown here in past years, though every line-up depends on RAF scheduling and is confirmed only in the official programme.
Where to watch from
The sand and promenade either side of Bournemouth Pier put you nearest the display line, and they fill first. The clifftops on East Cliff and West Cliff trade closeness for a view along the whole bay. Boscombe and Southbourne get the same aircraft with considerably more room to stand, and Hengistbury Head is the quiet end of it entirely.
The bay fills with boats during the festival. An exclusion zone protects the display line and is enforced, so anyone on the water follows the marine notices published for the event.
Getting there, and the day around it
The seafront roads close or clog on display days and the central car parks are full early, so the train, the bus or the walk down through the gardens all beat driving, and they beat it again on the way out, when the whole seafront leaves at once. Fast jets are genuinely loud: ear defenders are worth packing for small children. Flying depends on cloud base and visibility and can be cut short or cancelled at any notice, while the ground entertainment carries on regardless.
Festival weekend is the busiest of the Bournemouth year for beds. Anything on the clifftops or the seafront goes months ahead.
What else is on
The events calendar lists every dated event across the bay, and the map shows how the venues sit relative to each other.
Dates & times
- Thu 27 – Sun 30 Aug 2026