The first month of 2025 is already over and that means it is about time to start preparing for this year´s air show season. Therefore, as every year, we will tell you about some upcoming aviation events in Europe and share our experiences from the previous editions, as well as let you know the reasons, why we consider them interesting and worth visiting.
Obviously, it will be a purely subjective choice of events and should not be considered as an ultimate guide.
And here is the first part of the 2025 European aviation events, selected for you by our editorial team:
Belgium
This year´s edition of the Sanicole International Airshow, the biggest aviation event in Belgium, as well as one of the most popular air shows in Europe, will be held on 13th and 14th September 2025.
As usual, the event will be split into two different shows – the Sunset Airshow on Saturday evening and the main Sanicole Airshow on Sunday. The show is usually connected with a spotter day held at the nearby air base in Kleine-Brogel, although no official information about the event were yet available. If organised this year, the KeeBee spotter event should take place on Friday, 12th September, as it was in 2024.
Last year, the Belgian show was led by two major themes – the 80th anniversary of the liberation after World War II and Operation Market Garden, and the 50th anniversary of the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft.
Highlights of the Sanicole International Airshow included flying displays of Avro Lancaster and Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress bomber aircraft from the World War II era, a joint display of the Lancaster and the Viper, solo displays of several jet fighter aircraft and symbolic farewell of the F-16 service with the Belgian Air Component.
Our report from the previous edition of the event, as well as information about participants of the 2025 Sanicole International Airshow, will soon be issued on our web site.
Czech Republic
Den ve vzduchu, the aviation event with more than twenty years of history, already became the traditional opener of the European air show season.
The 2025 edition of the show, as usual hosted by small but picturesque airfield of Aeroklub Plasy, in the West Bohemia region, will be organised on 26th and 27th April. This year, the organizers promise a lot of premier performances, including Melanie Astles aerobatic show (which will also be her debut at the Czech air show), Trenér Box team, Auster Mk V and Niebergall aerobatic duo.
If you would like to learn more about Den ve vzduchu, our report from the 2024 edition of the show can be found here.
The 33rd edition of the country´s biggest civilian air show, Aviatická pouť (the Aviation Fair), will take place on 7th and 8th June 2025, at Pardubice airfield.
The event is well-known to all aviation enthusiasts in Central and Eastern Europe and every year visited by tens of thousands spectators. Programme of the Aviation Fair usually includes a broad variety of aircraft, although with particular emphasis on vintage aeroplanes, warbirds and aerobatic performances.
Aviatická pouť is also known for the Flying Bulls aircraft to be showcased there on regular basis. And exactly a warbird from the Hangar 7 collection is the first disclosed participant of the 33rd edition – North American P-51D Mustang ´Nooky Booky´.
For more information about the event, we recommend checking our report from the last year´s edition of the Aviation Fair, as well as follow our tag ´Aviaticka Pout´.
The private collection of vintage aircraft located at Letiště Točná / Točná Airport in Prague has already disclosed the dates of open-door events scheduled for the 2025 season. Similarly as in the previous seasons, the public days at the airfield will be organised on every second Saturday of the month, starting on 8th March (and with the only exception in November, when the open-door day is scheduled for the third Saturday).
The open doors events at Točná Airport already have a long tradition and usually create a wonderful chance to see up close all the aircraft being based there, as well as offer an additional opportunity to see other Czech-based historical and vintage aeroplanes – through their guest appearance at the Točná open days.
Moreover, many of events organised at Točná are focused on particular topic from the aviation and Czech (respectively Czechoslovak) history, or just introducing one particular aircraft from the collection. For example, the open day held in September of 2021 was celebrating the 105th anniversary of the birth of Karel Kuttelwascher – a Czech fighter pilot and a flying ace of the Royal Air Force, and the event organised in October of 2024 was organised in the eve of the 77th anniversary of the first flight of Zlín Trenér aircraft and thus combined with Zlín Meeting.
Our reports from both the aforementioned events can be found in the links highlighted above.
On 17th May 2025, the Czech Air Force base in Časláv will again open its doors for all aviation enthusiasts.
Whenever organised, the public events held at the Czech air bases attract tens of thousands spectators and the upcoming show will surely be no exception from that rule. Previous edition of the Časláv open day was organised in 2023, then followed by a similar event at Náměšť air base in 2024.
The open day at Náměšt´ airfield was the first public presentation of the Czech Air Force AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom rotorcraft, organized at their home base. Approximately 38,000 visitors seized the opportunity and arrived there to see one of the newest Czech military acquisitions, and you may check our report from that event here.
Germany
At the end of December 2024, the German Ministry of Defence officially disclosed the date and locations of the annual open-doors event of the German armed forces – Tag der Bundeswehr. In 2025, the event will be held on 28th June, at ten different military facilities across the country.
The list of the announced locations for the upcoming event includes two air bases – Fliegerhorst Schleswig/Jagel (Schleswig/Jagel Air Base) in Schleswig-Holstein and Internationale Hubschrauberausbildungszentrum (International Helicopter Training Centre) of the German Armed Forces in Bückeburg, Lower Saxony.
Both facilities already had the opportunity to host Tag der Bundeswehr in previous years. The air base in Jagel held the event in 2019 and the show was related to the 25th anniversary of the unit, as well as the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. The then open doors day attracted more than 24,000 visitors and was preceded by a spotter event.
Internationale Hubschrauberausbildungszentrum in Bückeburg was one of the locations of the 2023 edition of the German armed forces open day. It was the year Tag der Bundeswehr was held for the first time in its usual formula, after the three-year gap. Therefore, it was not surprising the open doors event at the International Helicopter Training Centre attracted more than 110,000 guests.
Last year, Heeresflugplatz Faßberg (a joint air base of the German Air Aviation Corps and the Luftwaffe) was among the locations where Tag der Bundeswehr was organised. The event attracted approximately 50,000 spectators and our report from the show will soon be available on our web page.
Portugal
This year´s edition of the annual NATO Tiger Meet exercise will be organised at the Portuguese air base in Beja, officially known as Base Aérea Nº 11 (Air Base No. 11).
The event will take place between 21st September and 3rd October 2025. As usual, a spotter day is expected to be organised during the exercise, however, no official information was disclosed yet.
Nevertheless, it was already announced that the Tiger Meet will be accompanied by a public aviation event, the Beja Air Show, which is going to take place on 27th and 28th September.
