THE Red Arrows will not be flying in the skies above Newcastle this summer.
Down Council hopes that the RAF’s renowned aerial display team would return to take part in the Festival of Flight for the third successive summer have been dashed.
The Recorder understands the council has been told the display team, which attracted tens of thousands of tourists to Newcastle over the past two years, will be performing abroad during the August festival.
The decision is a blow to the council but officials are confident a high quality Festival of Flight will still prove popular with tourists and local residents.
A council source said there is disappointment the Red Arrows will not be returning.
“We had hoped they would return but given this is the Queen’s Jubilee we knew there would be enormous pressures on their time,” said the source.
“However, we have plans for a lot of other attractions for the Festival of Flight which we believe will be very popular and will attract many people to the town.”
A Down Council spokeswoman said the local authority was still awaiting official confirmation from the Red Arrows.