9th February

• 9th Feb 2023

Welcome to the first weekly update from the Air Operations Department as we look ahead to the Royal International Air Tattoo 2023!

We're pleased to announce this week the first confirmed aircraft for both the flying and static displays at RIAT 2023, both coming from the Finnish Air Force. Firstly, we're pleased to welcome their F/A-18C Hornet which will be performing in the flying display. Their solo display of the Hornet is often regarded as one of the best fast jet demonstrations across Europe, and a previous winner of various flying display awards at RIAT. In addition, they will also be sending a Hawk for static display, planned to be HW.340 in the spectacular Finnish flag colour scheme, after it was unable to attend last year.

Despite it being early in the year, we are already in communication with a number of Air Forces who plan to send aircraft to RIAT 2023, including a number of air to air refuelling aircraft for our SKYTANKER23 theme, and a wide array of other military and civilian aircraft types. However, there are also a number of nations who due to operational commitments or budgetary constraints, are sadly unable to participate at RIAT 2023. These are all available to view using our 'traffic light' system on this page.