New Civil Aviation Authority rules are said to be one of the reasons behind the cancellation of Twizel's Wings Over Water airshow this year.
The event was last run in September 2012, and show spokesman James Leslie said there were no plans to hold another.
''There are a number of things. First of all, it's only been run three or four times altogether, so it's not really a regular event.
''The last time was about 15 months ago, and when we did that we just squeaked in with a change in the civil aviation rules about pilots participating in airshows.
''Following on from that, it's going to be more and more difficult really for pilots, unless they are professional airshow pilots, to do airshows.''
Mr Leslie said the new rules meant pilots would have to obtain an airshow licence and renew it every two years.
''And the sort of airshow that we put on was really not the Warbirds sort of airshow, just local pilots, so it was a bit too much to ask them to do that.''
Although there had been disappointment expressed in the area, funds were still available for someone else to re-establish the airshow.
''The seed funding is still in trust if someone wants to run a similar kind of event.''
