Airshow cancelled again over fundraising shortfall

An airshow has been cancelled again after organisers said they could not raise the money needed to bring it back.

Many businesses said they were simply unable to help the Teignmouth Airshow, in Devon, due to rising costs, said chairman of its committee Dave Matthews.

"People that we went to were just saying 'we're all struggling at the moment, as much as we want to support, we can't at the moment'," he said.

The 2025 show was also cancelled due to funding problems.

Most of the funding in previous years came from a small number of local backers, who often stepped in just before the deadline to cover the final bills, said the organisers on Facebook.

The committee said they were "incredibly grateful" for that support, but that relying on last‑minute rescues was "not a reliable or fair long‑term funding model".

Matthews said the committee was exhausted after personally underwriting the 2024 event, which cost about £100,000 to put on.

"We didn't really want that worry, as well as getting into trouble for starting something that we knew potentially we didn't have the money in the bank to pay for."

"It's sad, Teignmouth used to be a place on the map for the events that it used to put on and it is just slowly dying away," he said.

But he insisted the door was not closed. "We're not giving up, by any stretch of imagination," he said.

"We're hoping that maybe 2026, 2027, when the economic climate's better, we may be able to do it again."

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