[professortarzan]

Greetings Aviators and fellow Aviation enthusiasts. We are less than a fortnight away from the 2025 edition of Asia's largest air show, Aero India '25. I've been checking the forum for past few days but couldn't find a thread, so I am starting one to discuss everything related to the event.

As many of you are already aware, this year's iteration of Aero India is scheduled from 10th to 14th of February at the Yelahanka Airforce Station in Bengaluru. The first three days are reserved for business visitors whereas 13th and 14th are open to general public. If you want a sneak peek of what to expect at the show, you can refer my previous post here.

I am sharing the details I know so far, please feel free to correct or add anything that I missed. Let's keep this thread active and keep ourselves informed.

1. General passes were open for booking for quite some time and ADVA passes have been made available in the past few days.
2. ADVA area is end of the runway, this will not give you access to the static display or the expo in hangars.
3. General pass area is roughly at middle of the runway. It is supposedly the best spot (other than the podium) to experience the show.
4. Su-57 is confirmed to be participating this year. Hopefully we get to see it perform in our skies.
5. Air shows of F-35 and F-16 have been officially cancelled. There are speculations that F-35 will be in the static display, not confirmed.
6. Saarang team's participation is doubtful due to grounding of ALH Dhruv fleet. However, the team say they are ready to perform even at short notice.
7. And finally, air traffic will be restricted at BLR during the show. Plan your travels accordingly.

I have attended the show in 2013 and 2023. I am flying down now just for the show and am genuinely excited. Blue Skies!!

[itwasntme]

Revised KIAL closure timings:
https://www.deccanherald.com//india/...-to-14-3385897

Even if your flight does not obviously fall into the closed periods, do keep checking for any changes as airlines need to position the requisite number of aircraft depending upon the changing requirements. Sudden changes to flight timings (pan-India, not just BLR) can easily occur!

The Kumbh Mela is another complicating factor; anecdotally, I understand a fair number of passengers (from South) are using BLR as a transit point.

[InControl]

Hello BHPians, Is it already too late or there a way to get passes even now?

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by InControl

Hello BHPians, Is it already too late or there a way to get passes even now?

Don’t know about Business or ADVA passes but we just bought a bunch of General Passes off their app.

Something to enjoy: 2 C295s escorting a C130!

https://youtu.be/GjnIADnGnS4?si=K1KOyFUxUb4wJXW6

[professortarzan]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Something to enjoy: 2 C295s escorting a C130!

Nice! An article I tagged below says A400M would also take part this time. If you manage to spot them, don't forget to share the beans with us.

A few more updates from my previous post. They are from sources across the internet and Reddit, so please don't curse me if you end up disappointed at the show.

1. The Bone (B-1 Lancer) would be making an appearance this time as well, both static and flying if this article is to be believed.
2. A400M and A330 Tanker are also expected to participate, again from the same source.
3. An Embraer C-390 from Brazilian Air Force is expected to be present again.
4. A prototype of SU-75 Checkmate will be in static display.
5. F-35 and F-16 demos still remain cancelled, but F-35 would be part of the static display.
6. No positive news on Sarang yet. A recent report published in HT points to rare transmission failure. We have to wait and watch if this would be enough to reinstate the fleet.

[napster]

Is anyone here aware whether kids are allowed at the show? Any specific age criteria?

I tried calling the numbers provided on the website last week but they also didn't have an idea about it and said to call back next week as they expected the decision about kids would be taken by then. But this week the call is not getting through.

[stewie]

Originally Posted by professortarzan

1. General passes were open for booking for quite some time and ADVA passes have been made available in the past few days.
2. ADVA area is end of the runway, this will not give you access to the static display or the expo in hangars.
3. General pass area is roughly at middle of the runway. It is supposedly the best spot (other than the podium) to experience the show.
4. Su-57 is confirmed to be participating this year. Hopefully we get to see it perform in our skies.
5. Air shows of F-35 and F-16 have been officially cancelled. There are speculations that F-35 will be in the static display, not confirmed.
6. Saarang team's participation is doubtful due to grounding of ALH Dhruv fleet. However, the team say they are ready to perform even at short notice.
7. And finally, air traffic will be restricted at BLR during the show. Plan your travels accordingly.

I don't know about this time, but in 2023, there was no real distinction between ADVA and the costlier General Pass.
There was no checking of pass type.
Let's see if it is actually enforced this time.

I read some reports on X that the F-35 air show is still on.
Surprised me, because there was some US Air Force document floating around earlier which showed the cancellation.
I hope they do show up and do a round. That performance was the highlight for me last year.

Originally Posted by napster

Is anyone here aware whether kids are allowed at the show? Any specific age criteria?

Saw a lot of school age kids at the show last time. Don't see why not.

[itwasntme]

I think there is an age floor of 12 but unconfirmed. Frankly, continued exposure to such elevated sound levels to younger children coupled with the sun and heat is avoidable.

Found some sensible tips from a Reddit page:

Carry a big size umbrella, there are no shades near the static display, it will protect you from the sun. Don’t forget sunglasses too.

Freeze a couple of water bottles and take them with you. It will help throughout the day. Carry ample snacks too. Everything inside is marked up and will have a lot of crowd.

You can walk over to the sitting area, it’s at the other end of the static display. You will get to see the planes up close from there, and you can atleast sit and watch.

As a commenter below mentioned, get ear plugs. I recommend 3M ear plugs, they are cheap and effective. They are ₹200 for a pack of 10 on Amazon.

Take Sunscreen, Cap and an umbrella.
* Hydrate regularly, it would be hot and this is usually cause from my health issues there.
* The aircrafts are powerful machines and the sound would be bearable at first but after 2-3 hours, you might get headaches
* I have heard few of my friends get headache the next day due to heat, sound and all that.
* Food would be 1.5-2X costlier, there are food tents you can choose.
* There are paid water bottle and free water bottle stands you can take it from anywhere. I have seen people taking 10-15 water bottles of water and taking it home. Not sure why they do it.
* Take care of your kids, hold their hand and check up on them coz of heat and sound.
Carry a power bank with you. Last time when we visited, everyone's phone died.

Just a caution, don't go on a WFH mode, there are jammers all around, you can't have proper internet or network. You have to come outside, approx 1 Km of the main area to attend calls.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Just a caution, don't go on a WFH mode, there are jammers all around, you can't have proper internet or network. You have to come outside, approx 1 Km of the main area to attend calls[/i].

Interesting. I wonder what logic is behind such measures. In the west most carriers will ensure extra coverage and capacity for any major events and venues?

When I ran the Sprint Network 2009-2012 we had a special team that would follow the NASCAR races all over the USA. The team had about 25 guys and a bunch of trucks to move all the equipment from one place to the next. Our radioplanning department would take measurements about two weeks prior to a race and develop a specific radio coverage plan for that race. The mobile team would arrive about a week prior to the races and build out the temporary network using so called COWs (Cells on wheels). They would tear everything down immediately after the races and would move to the next race venue.

Similar for big events day a Super Bowl, or big aviation shows we would set up extra coverage.

Not sure why they want to jam. There is nothing secret at such an event, everybody can tak as many images and videos as you like.

Jeroen

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Interesting. I wonder what logic is behind such measures.
Not sure why they want to jam.

I’m guessing the only reason is to protect VIPs from the threat of remotely detonated bombs using the public cellular networks.

As far as my experience goes in India, any truly important military / other crucial infrastructure entry/exit gates or VVIP politicians have such jammers installed. Happy to be corrected but this is the only reason I can think of.

[robimahanta]

Visited today morning to see the flying display rehearsal. Not everything was in the air but it was a good mix.

Aero India 2025



IAF's Akash Ganga Paratroopers in tri color formation



Su30 after landing



Embraer ERJ145 (Netra) AEW&C with a Su30



C130J (get confused with AN32's) flanked by C295's



Mi 17 Heli with the tricolor



SEPECAT Jaguars



Su30 duo



HAL Tejas



The amazing Suryakiran display with their BAE Systems Mk132's
















*Sorry if there are any ID errors

It is pretty sunny out there, take hats, sunscreen and eye wear. On the public days traffic and security will be time consuming so keep it simple regarding carry ons.

Phone network (5G) works flawlessly, no issues.

[PreludeSH]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Interesting. I wonder what logic is behind such measures. In the west most carriers will ensure extra coverage and capacity for any major events and venues?

Jeroen

Even abroad military bases have jammers and this increases when there are evets at such places. Even GPS signals gets jammed. We see this around western bases in middle east and impacts mobile networks using GPS. But user frequencies dont see such impacts while here it seems across spectrum. Another valid reason could be lack of towers in the area in the first place .

[avdhesh15]

Rant alert:
I wanted to understand the rationale for having this air show at such a busy airport like Bangalore and restricting the air space. I had to travel for a meeting and have paid 47k for a return ticket and had to take some stupid flight timings. Due to the insane pricing of tickets, I know a bunch of folks who's meetings/ work has suffered.

[professortarzan]

Ra Ra Rasputin, Russia's greatest love machine
My flight tickets are getting paid off

The Felon has arrived!

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Something to enjoy: 2 C295s escorting a C130!

I noticed on a bigger screen, that's actually Dornier 228s escorting what looks mostly like AN-32 Must be a case of mistaken identity, robimahanta's post has captured C295s escorting C130.

Originally Posted by stewie

I don't know about this time, but in 2023, there was no real distinction between ADVA and the costlier General Pass.
There was no checking of pass type.

I had the same thought too but I gathered from reddit that ADVA and General Pass are different gates altogether. ADVA zone is at the beginning of the runway and doesn't give access to static display. General pass zone is in the middle of runway, the area around hangars and static display. I still need someone to confirm this though. Considering the crowd I saw in 2023, I am not very sure so many people would have spent Rs 2,500 over Rs 1,000.

Originally Posted by stewie

I read some reports on X that the F-35 air show is still on.
Surprised me, because there was some US Air Force document floating around earlier which showed the cancellation.
I hope they do show up and do a round. That performance was the highlight for me last year.

The official app also has F-35 listed in Daily Aerial Display along with B-1 and KC-135, but I am not getting my hopes up. F-35 was indeed the showstopper last time.

Originally Posted by napster

Is anyone here aware whether kids are allowed at the show? Any specific age criteria?

Originally Posted by stewie

Saw a lot of school age kids at the show last time. Don't see why not.

Yes, I faintly remember this too. In fact, I was talking to a lovely family and explaining their young child (may be around 10) that F-18s were the aircrafts in Top Gun: Maverick. But apparently the rules mention a minimum age limit, it's not very clear to be honest.

Stewie, I have a doubt. Are/were power banks allowed? I am not able to recollect if I carried one the last time or if I left it in the car.

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Rant alert:
I wanted to understand the rationale for having this air show at such a busy airport like Bangalore and restricting the air space. I had to travel for a meeting and have paid 47k for a return ticket and had to take some stupid flight timings. Due to the insane pricing of tickets, I know a bunch of folks who's meetings/ work has suffered.

Just off the top of my head,

Bangalore is home to HAL, ISRO, DRDO and many others. Kind of like an aerospace hub of India

Connectivity and infrastructure for global participants

Proximity to aviation and defence facilities

Historically Yelahanka Air Force station has been organising it for decades. The infrastructure, airspace management and expertise is well established.


Having said that, there have been aero shows in other parts of India too.