THIS year’s Jersey International Air Display is up in the air – with its organiser making a last-ditch attempt to find sponsorship so the event can go ahead.
The not-for-profit company, which has organised the free airshow for 23 years, says it needs to find £75,000 before the end of this month to stage the event on Thursday 14 September.
It is calling on potential sponsors to come forward by this weekend, otherwise organisers say they will be forced to cancel the display.
Aircraft already booked for the show include the Red Arrows, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the French Air Force National Aerobatic Display Team, the Patrouille de France, and the RAF Parachute Display Team, the Falcons.
If the show is cancelled, it will be the third such occurrence in 72 years: the first happened in 1954 and the second was due to the pandemic in 2020.
Organiser and former Deputy Mike Higgins said that cancellation would have a damaging impact on the Island’s reputation, its ability to attract aircraft in the future and on the hospitality industry.
Mr Higgins added that Monday was the deadline because risk assessments and other required documents would have to be submitted to the director of civil aviation next week.
Organisers say the main reason for the airshow being at risk of cancellation was the government’s decision in March to put the event out to tender, and to give JIAD a £40,000 grant for this year’s event – half of what the company was asking for.
Mr Higgins said the call for additional sponsorship was a ‘last throw of the dice’.
‘The event, which is normally financed through private-sector sponsorship and a government grant, has been seriously impacted through changes in government policy towards organisations which receive grant aid.
‘In order to determine whether the government is getting value for money for the grants they make, they have decided to put all such grants out to tender and invite expressions of interest from individuals and organisations to apply for them,’ he said.
He said that the changes, which were applied to the Jersey International Air Display from March, were intended to be applied to other tourism events from 2024.
However, this has been denied by the government, which says there has been no change in policy, with the resilience of all organisations which receive public funds being tested to ensure the Island gets value for money.
However, Mr Higgins argues that putting the air display funding out to tender earlier this year had a damaging impact, which was now being felt.
He said: ‘The effect of the new policy has been that we lost some of our existing private-sector sponsorship and we found it exceptionally difficult to raise new sponsorship while the government decided on who would be awarded the grant and because of the associated delays in getting permission from the director of civil aviation to hold this year’s event.’
Mr Higgins added: ‘The delays caused great uncertainty among existing and potential sponsors, who asked what was going on, and we could not tell them as we did not know ourselves because we were left in limbo for months.
‘It also meant that we could not enter into agreements for the provision of services or make the deposits sometimes requested by suppliers. We also could not confirm with some foreign military and private owners about the participation of their aircraft in the display.’
Mr Higgins said that the grant was half the amount needed because of rising costs and lost sponsorship due to the uncertainty. It means that JIAD is around £75,000 short of what it says it needs to put on the event.
He added that organisers had contacted more than 100 individuals and organisations for support but had been unable to fill the funding shortfall.
‘It is for this reason that we are making a last-minute appeal to the private sector for funding in order to save the event,’ he said. ‘We hope that at least 15 Islanders and/or companies will come forward with £5,000 or more to keep this much-loved and important date in the Island’s social and tourism calendar from being cancelled.’
Government statement
The government said it was not responsible for putting on the display and it had been clear to JIAD that this year’s £40,000 grant was a final offer.
In a statement, it said: ‘On 10 May 2023, government made a provisional offer of £40,000 to JIAD Ltd to support an air event in 2023. This was the same provisional offer that was made in 2022, which was eventually increased [to £60,000] following a request from the JIAD event organiser.
‘The 2023 offer made clear that the provisional sum would not change and that the organiser would be expected to raise other funds through sponsorship and commercial agreements.
‘Government received no acknowledgement of the 2023 offer from JIAD Ltd.’
It added: ‘The Government of Jersey is not responsible for organising air displays in Jersey. Any person or individual who satisfies the director of civil aviation and Bailiff’s Chambers that they are competent to safely organise an air display in Jersey is free to do so.
‘Government does not recognise JIAD’s representation of the recent expressions of interest process. There has not been a change in government policy towards organisations that receive grants. It has always been the case that Islanders expect government to test the resilience of grant funding for longstanding events and projects to ensure compatibility with our Island’s wider priorities and value for money.
‘It is not for government to discuss the commercial partnerships between different third parties, namely JIAD Ltd and any of its existing or potential sponsors.’
