Croatian International Airshow Varazdin 2024
Varazdin, 13-14 July 2024
With summer remaining absent from much of West and Northern Europe in 2024, the prospect of visiting an airshow where warm and sunny was predicted was appealing. Yet, there was much more to draw visitors to the Croatian International Airshow Varazdin (CIAV), the first time the event was held since 2018.
Varazdin is a charming city about 1 hour from Zagreb by car and almost 3 decades by train, but it is worth the effort to go there. Warm hospitality and lovely baroque architecture make it an excellent destination for a city trip.
About 2 and half kilometres outside the city centre lies a small airport which is home to several flying clubs and a few corporate aircraft. The short runway and limited ramp space does limit the aircraft it can welcome for an airshow, but they did very well indeed for the first CIAV since 2018. Only the Rafales and Slovenian PC-9s operated from their home bases, all other participants took off and landed at Varazdin airport itself.
The airshow kicked off at 14:00, but in the preceding hour, there was a brief pre-show with parachutists and a model aircraft. In the morning, visitors could visit the aircraft that were due to take part in the flying display on the ramp at no extra charge, though most aircraft were still well under cover so not much use for photographers.
There was a spotters package that allowed interested photographers to a position close to the runway. Given that most of the runway was obscured for the public due to high crops, perhaps that is the main draw of that package for foreign visitors.
Being in that forward position meant being exposed to the sun for most of the day, which is a prospect that should hardly be relished. The heat was very oppressive. In the main public area, there was a large tent and a few smaller examples that served a shelter and also hosted the catering stands and they were most welcome to avoid sun stroke, especially for visitors who hadn’t seen much of the sun yet in 2024.
On Saturday, a powerful storm suddenly appeared and hit the airfield. While nearby Slovenia bore the brunt of it with heavy hail showers, the accompanying strong winds tore through the showground and made short work of tents and sales stands, and indeed almost lifted the giant tent aloft. While this signified the official end of the flying display, an autogyro and Krila Oluje did still fly after the storm had passed. Sunday saw wall to wall sunshine.
A few acts only flew on Saturday, the resulting gaps getting plugged on Sunday by having some participants fly twice, so the show still ran well beyond 18:30. Perhaps the most striking participants, apart from the Croatian and Slovenian military, were classic jets like the Red Bull Alpha Jets, G-2 Galeb from Serbia and Polish Lim-2 / Mig-15.
Varazdin certainly wasn’t the biggest or most spectacular airshow in Europe in 2024, but it certainly had enough to please hardcore visitors and should be on anyone’s list for the rarity of some of the participants.
