THIS year’s Sunderland International Airshow has been hailed the biggest crowd-puller yet.

An estimated 950,000 people flocked to the city’s seafront at Roker and Seaburn last Friday, Saturday and Sunday (July 25, 26 and 26) to watch the action unfold at the 26th annual event.

Events company Sunderland Live, which stages it for Sunderland City Council, estimates that spectators’ spending totalled more than £12m, excluding the cost of accommodation.

Sunderland Live believes the increasingly popular Friday night launch party and new attractions introduced this year have fuelled the growth in visitors.

The Roker Park Family Kingdom and the BBC World War One at Home exhibition proved extremely popular with the event’s primarily family audience.

Sunderland Live says that 61 per cent of visitors were in a group of three or more people.

The company’s chief operating officer, Chris Alexander, said: “We are thrilled with the attendance at this year’s Sunderland International Airshow.

“It’s such a great feeling to see all of those visitors enjoying the weekend and with a regional economic impact of over twelve million pounds there is a huge sense of pride regarding what the event does for the city.”

The event began disappointingly with the cancellation of the launch party’s limited flying programme on Friday night due to low cloud.

The party still went ahead with music and a firework finale.

But the weather picked up for the rest of the weekend, which included displays by the Red Arrows, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team, The Blades and the Breitling Wingwalkers.

This year featured the debut performance of an Autogyro, two Douglas Dakotas from World War Two and an American Mustang fighter.

The event also features attractions on the ground including live music, stalls, fairground rides and static displays by various branches of the military.

For information about future airshows and other events organized by Sunderland Live visit the website www.sunderland.co.uk