iscover
Tickets are now on sale for the 2026 Pacific Airshow Gold Coast after the 2025 event was scrapped in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The event will take place at Surfers Paradise from 14-16 August 2026, and follows extensive beach remediation efforts by Gold Coast Council to repair the massive erosion from the cyclone that scuppered its planned August 2025 dates.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
“After the devastation of Cyclone Alfred, we are thrilled to announce Pacific Airshow’s triumphant return,” airshow director Kevin Elliott said.
“Our aim has always been to bring new experiences to the event each year that eclipse the expectations of our audience, and we have plenty of exciting new additions planned for 2026 to stoke even more excitement.”
According to Queensland’s Minister for the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Andrew Powell, the airshow “showcases the best of aviation innovation and entertainment”.
“This is more than just an event, this is yet another experience that makes Queensland the envy of the world,” Minister Powell said.
“The community and economic impacts solidify the success of this event, anticipated to generate more than $32 million for the state and an approximate 129,000 direct visitor nights.”
The Gold Coast had lost more than four million cubic metres of sand after the storm in March, with the beach level at Surfers Paradise dropping by around two metres, creating sand cliffs up to six metres high in some areas.
Speaking to Australian Aviation earlier this year, Elliott said the Pacific Airshow team had considered other options to hold the event after beach erosion scuppered its normal venue of Surfers Paradise, but found them all lacking.
“Some of the other scenarios we considered were obviously the typical ones people might guess: relocating the event to somewhere else, shifting it here or there,” he said.
“Obviously, the challenge with that is airspace, as you might imagine – we can’t go closer to Gold Coast Airport without shutting the airport down.
“Ultimately, just to summarise all these different considerations – whether it’s date change, venue change, doing it up on the street versus doing it on the beach – it was either going to be a compromise on the ground or a compromise in the air, meaning we were likely going to have to change the dates and lose a lot of our military participation. Neither of those outcomes were acceptable for our team.”
The Pacific Airshow Gold Coast was created by the team behind the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach, California, which attracts 3 million visitors.
Launched in 2016, the original Pacific Airshow in California in 2021 included aerial displays by the US Navy Blue Angels, US Air Force Thunderbirds, Royal Air Force Red Arrows, and the Canadian Forces Snowbirds.
