Is it worth going to the Farnborough Airshow if you’re interested in aviation? Not if you’re someone who works in an aviation business, nor someone in the armed forces or airline industry. But if you’re like me and simply enjoy the world of aviation and are curious about one of the world’s biggest airshows, is it worth going?
In this article I’ll talk about how you can get access to an airshow that’s mainly aimed at aviation professionals, what you’ll find when you get there, and my thoughts on whether it’s worth visiting.
How do you get into Farnborough Airshow?
The Farnborough International Airshow is primarily a trade show, meaning if you want to get in during the main part of the airshow you’ll need to work in or for the aviation industry. This could be as an exhibitor at the trade show, as a member of the media, or as an invitee from the military or airlines who are represented at the show.
I had to apply for a media accreditation to get my ticket to the show in 2024. I had to complete an online application where I provided links to my YouTube channel and social media accounts as well as my media kit, and explained what my intentions at the show were. Each application is then assessed and in my instance I was granted a media pass to the show.
The Trade days run from Monday through to Friday. But what happens if you’re not in the industry and can’t get a Trade pass? Well Farnborough does have one public day, usually the Friday, where public visitors can purchase a pass to the ‘Pioneers of Tomorrow’ careers-focused public day. Whilst there have been many changes to the formats of the Farnborough Airshows over the years it does appear they are continuing to have a public day for the next airshow planned for 2026 as well.
So if you’re planning to visit and want to go on the quieter days earlier in the week you’ll need a valid trade reason to attend. Otherwise you’ll have to pre-purchase a ticket to the one public day which can get quite busy.
What’s on display at Farnborough Airshow?
Farnborough has huge exhibition halls filled with aviation companies looking to sell you products or services, but if you’re reading this article I’m going to assume you’re not their target audience. I’m certainly not. The companies I saw provide assets to the military, work with international governments, or were developing technologies geared towards aircraft manufacturers and operators. It’s not like Oshkosh or Sun ’n Fun where vendors are selling upgrades for your kit plane, RC aircraft models, avionics or applications for your iPad. Unless you’re in the market for missiles or an autonomous surveillance drone then you can skip this part.
But it’s the static displays and afternoon air display that interests most of us, and Farnborough gets some big aircraft in comparison to other airshows. For example at the 2024 show the ground displays included a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner, an Air India Airbus A350, a British Airways A320, a JetBlue A220, a Virgin Atlantic A330, ATR-72, helicopters, and more.
In the military area there were F-16s, an F-15, Chinook helicopter and other aircraft from the RAF and US Airforce and Army.
What I found however was that all but one aircraft (the Qatar Dreamliner) were not open to view inside unless you had a private invitation, and the wait to get onto the Qatar 787 was over 30 minutes long and it was actually closed for a large part of the day. But on top of that, every static display aircraft was behind barriers so you couldn’t get particularly close to them from the outside. Again the only up-close inspections were reserved to invitees only.
I understand the security impact of allowing large amounts of visitors close to expensive aircraft but many other airshows do allow visitors inside the static displays, or at very least allow you to walk around and underneath them, an experience which I think most of us aviation lovers thoroughly enjoy but one that was sadly was not available at this airshow.
The afternoon flying display though was just like any other airshow and on the trade days with less foot traffic it was easy to get to the front of the flight line to watch aircraft including an F-16, F-15, C-390 Millennium, and USAF chinook.
Being a commercially focused airshow the air display also included commercial airliners like an ATR-72 and A321-XLR showing high-performance take-offs and manoeuvres. A rare and awesome sight.
So should you go?
I’m very fortunate to have been granted media access to the Farnborough Airshow this year, but would I recommend you visit this airshow in the future? Well if you can also get trade day access and don’t mind not being able to get close to, nor inside, the static displays, then I’d come for the afternoon air display on one of the days as that was thoroughly enjoyable.
If you’re not an aviation professional and were looking to come on one of the public days, to get close to large commercial aircraft is a fun experience (even though you most likely can’t get inside them) and you may also see large aircraft like the A321 flying in the afternoon display that rarely happens at smaller airshows. But there are many other airshows more geared to general aviation and enthusiasts that you may find would give you a better experience than Farnborough does these days, especially if you are taking children.
This is not by any means a dig at the Farnborough International Airshow, but ultimately it is a commercial airshow with the objective to bring aviation professionals together to trade goods and services, and it does a great job of that – 164 Airbus and 96 Boeing aircraft were sold at this year’s airshow alone.
So even though Farnborough used to operate as more of a public airshow nowadays I look at it purely as a trade show. Perhaps it could do with being renamed, maybe calling itself the Farnborough International Aviation Trade Show instead, I think that would more accurately represent its positioning.
See more in this airshow video
I made a video of my day at the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow here: