Warbirds Over Wānaka has been named New Zealand’s favourite event at the New Zealand Event Awards.

Wednesday night’s victory for the airshow in a public vote came despite what organisers have described as a difficult year for the event.

Conflict in the Middle East triggered a domino effect which led to the event’s headline act — the F-22 Raptors Demonstration Team — and the Royal New Zealand Air Force pulling out of the show, with airborne displays taking place in unseasonably cold, damp skies.

Despite the challenges, the event represented a significant success, welcoming over 60,000 people across the event’s three days, including the show’s  1 millionth guest.

Economic analysis by Christchurch-based consultants The Curiosity Company showed the event contributed more than $57 million to the regional economy, a 40% increase on the 2024 event. 

This year’s award-winning airshow was also to be the last for the event’s general manager Ed Taylor, who stepped down last month following 14 years at the helm.

For Mr Taylor, the build-up to the event was a curveball, but nothing he had not seen before. 

‘‘In 2020 the grand­stands were all set up before we had to can­cel … they stood there for three months before someone could take them down,’’ he said  in June.

‘‘Dur­ing the 2024 show we had cases of heat stroke and didn’t have enough sun­screen.

“This year we had cases of hypo­ther­mia and hun­dreds of litres of leftover sun­screen.”

 He said he would return to work at the event as a volunteer.

  • The proudest moment of his tenure was bringing the event into the town. 

“We brought it in as a way of thank­ing people of the town for allow­ing the town to be filled to the brim with plane spot­ters for a few days.

‘‘I didn’t want it to be any­thing more than a free com­munity air­show where people can sit down on their lakefront and enjoy a beau­ti­ful air­show for half an hour.’’

ruairi.oshea@alliedmedia.co.nz