Justin Giddings is a very happy man. The CEO of AMDA Foundation has been showered in positive feedback since the Australian International Airshow wrapped up earlier this month, and the official statistician is backing up the hype with hard numbers.
As well as a record 48,000 people for the three trade days, the public days also set a collective new mark with an estimated 200,000 through the gates.
Compare that with 176,000 in 2019, 132,000 in 2017 and 169,000 in 2015 and you can see why the industry is happy to declare 2023 the best Avalon ever.
But there is one mark that 2023 missed out on.
"We wouldn't have broken the single-day record," Giddings told Australian Flying today, "but attendance over the three days is definitely up significantly over 2019.
"This time we've evened it out over the three days a lot more. In 2017 we had a bumper day that may have even been 100,000. So we've had a bigger day than 80,000 before, but this time we've tried to spread it out."
Estimates for the three public days show attendances of 50,000, 80,000 and 70,000 for the Friday-Sunday period, but it seems AMDA could have claimed the single-day record for the Saturday as ticket sales "went crazy", prompting AMDA Foundation to put a hold on sales.
Before the show started, Giddings had already flagged restricted entry to ensure a better experience for those who were lucky enough to get a ticket.
But it seems Avalon could have out-succeeded itself, with snaking traffic queues blocking the surrounding roads and long lines of people waiting at the entry gates, straining their necks to glimpse the small, rolling aeroplanes over the top of white marquees.
The logistics of moving the public seems to be the only blight on an otherwise wildly successful show.
"We had some really good displays this year. I think the Black Eagles were the star attraction," Giddings said when asked what he attributed the outcome to.
"It's a combination of the four-year wait since we had the last one, and the air displays we had; I think the Black Eagles attracted a lot of people.
"Children coming in free was something we were able to do, and that was really successful and encouraged not just children, but their parents to come along as well.
"The STEM tents were full, and as a key part of our mission to develop aviation, that was very encouraging."
From the midday on the Tuesday, exhibitors were starting to realise they were part of something momentous. The traffic through the exhibition halls was out of proportion to most previous years, and more than ever before, people were prepared to spend money.
"The trade days were huge, and what was pleasantly surprising was that the strong numbers were maintained over the three days," Giddings said. "Normally the third day can be a bit softer than the others, but even that was strong.
"You might recall in previous years the media centre was within the exhibition halls, and at some events so was the conference centre. They were both taken out to make more space in the exhibition, which was completely full, and I understand that is the first time that's ever happened.
"The feedback is consistent right across the board; there was no down-turn anywhere."
In the spirit of "a tough act to follow", Giddings already has ideas of what can be done better in 2025, and understands that maintaining the high mark set by 2023 can't be a laurel on which AMDA Foundation can sit.
"Traffic is our number one priority, to make sure the public can get easier and safer than they did this time," he said. "Now that we're getting such good crowds, I'm really hoping we can attract more flying displays from around the world.
"The Black Eagles were an outstanding success and the show really raised their profile, and the cameraderie between the RAAF and the ROKAF was awesome. You can't buy that. That should be encouraging for other air forces, but you have to remember we are in the Southern Hemisphere and that's the down-time period for northern air forces.
"There are complications we can't overcome because we can't run the Australian International Air Show in Winter."
Pragmatically, Giddings says that Avalon has probably reached zenith in terms of crowd numbers, and will now focus AMDA's team on improving the customer experience rather than striving for more bodies through the gates.
"We're not necessarily looking for bigger crowds; I think we've probably reached as far as we can go," he admits. "But without a doubt, the key thing will be to return the public to the original crowd line; that's a key aspect.
"Hopefully we can work with CASA and the Victorian Government to move things around so that we can get a display viewing area back along the runway."
The greatest danger to ongoing success at this level is a general public shy of a repeat of the traffic issues that plagued 2023. People could stay away rather than risk it again. Solving that is a big ask of the AMDA team given that Avalon Airport doesn't have a lot of options for high-density access.
But if they can work away around it and the people return to Avalon in 2025 in droves comparable to this year, you can be sure Justin Giddings will be smiling again.
Figures from Avalon 2023
- 48,516 Industry Day Attendances (up 24%)
- 794 Participating Exhibitor Companies (up 14%)
- 281 Official Delegations from 38 nations
- 22 Chiefs and 14 Representatives
- 11 US Dignitaries
- Six National Armament Directors
- Three Space Commanders
- 248,000+ Attendances across the event