A NORTH-EAST airshow due to be attended by 10,000 people on Saturday has been postponed for nine months following the vintage jet crash which killed at least 11 people in Sussex at the weekend, it was announced tonight.

Skylive 2015 at Durham Tees Valley Airport, near Darlington, has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 28, 2016 in the wake of the disaster at Shoreham Air Show in which a Hawker Hunter jet crashed onto a busy motorway during a flying display.

On Monday, Skylive organisers said the airshow would go ahead in line with new Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) restrictions on the use of vintage jets at airshows banning "high-energy" aerobatics over land, but tonight a statement was issued announcing the postponement of the event.

Chris Petty of Skylive said: “Obviously this is not a decision we have taken lightly because we appreciate that thousands of people were looking forward to having a great day out this Saturday.

“We had put together an excellent programme of events but clearly the tragedy at Shoreham has forced us to consider very carefully whether it would be right to go ahead.

“Together with the airport we have come to the conclusion that in the aftermath of Shoreham, especially the restrictions announced by the CAA which would have seriously limited the flying displays of the jet aircraft scheduled to take part - including the Avro Vulcan and the aircraft from the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight - it would have significantly reduced the quality of the central element of the event.

“That is why we have reluctantly taken the decision to postpone the show until next May when hopefully we will know the outcome of the review of civil air display safety which the CAA has now begun."

One of the main attractions of the airshow was due to be a fly-past by the Vulcan - the so-called 'people's plane'. It is the only fully-operation Vulcan flying in the world, but it will be retired at the end of 2015, and therefore not available for the rescheduled event.

Mr Petty said: “We remain committed to delivering a high-quality event and that is what we will be working on once we have resolved the matters which have to be addressed in the light of this weekend’s postponement.”

Some exhibitors due to be part of the ground-show only heard about the postponement after it was publicised on The Northern Echo website.

One said: "You'd have thought the organisers could have at least emailed round everyone so we didn't find out like this. No-one seems to know what is happening."

Tickets issued for this weekend will remain valid for the new date. Details will be announced shortly of how to get refunds.

Durham Tees Valley Airport manager Shaun Woods said: “Everyone who has put so much time and effort into preparing for the airshow feels deeply disappointed that, as a result of circumstances which no-one wished had happened and nobody could have foreseen, we have had to take this difficult decision.

“However, together with Skylive, we feel it is the right decision. Safety always has to be our primary concern.”

The event was due to take place 25 years on from the last Teesside Airshow.

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