Sky-high fun for Sydney run | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

December 12 will be a big day in Rotorua's history - and the city is to celebrate in style.

A spectacular air show and carnival is to be staged at the Rotorua Lakefront to celebrate the arrival of the first flight from Sydney.

The air show will feature a series of aerial displays over two hours leading up to the afternoon's arrival of Air New Zealand flight NZ978 from Sydney.

Events & Venues Rotorua general manager Peter McLeod said generous support from the Rotorua Trust, The Daily Post and MediaWorks had meant the show would be a free family event.

The Rotorua Trust had contributed $10,000 towards the cost and The Daily Post and MediaWorks were providing promotional support.

Rotorua residents are invited to bring along a picnic lunch and enjoy a programme of free entertainment in a real family-friendly carnival atmosphere.

"Our Event Venues team has been working on the air display behind the scenes for some time and the event has now secured approval from the Civil Aviation Authority," Mr McLeod said. "It's a huge undertaking with some major logistics to deal with but there's no doubt in my mind that the Rotorua Lakefront will be the place to be on December 12."

He said work on the event began as soon as Air New Zealand confirmed it would be flying transtasman. Those taking part in the aerial displays were from throughout the North Island. "They are all well established aerobatic pilots that are well-known and who will be of interest to the general public."

Mr McLeod said the full programme for the air show would be announced over the next few weeks but he said there would be at least 12 separate aerial displays taking place and a range of fun activities on the ground to keep everyone entertained.

"We're putting the final touches to the individual events right now for the programme which will include wing walking, skydivers, vintage aircraft, solo and team aerobatics, helicopters and gyrocopters, and will culminate in the arrival of the inaugural Air New Zealand Airbus A320 touching down at Rotorua Airport at 2.35pm."

Mr McLeod said he was unable to disclose the cost of the airshow and carnival but said it was coming out of the council's transtasman budget and was being done "at a very good cost". He said the council was bringing in aircraft enthusiasts as opposed to paying commercial prices for aircraft.