2022 Szeged International Airshow Summary
The 2022 Szeged International Airshow, organized by the Szeged Transport Company (SZKT) and the Airport of Szeged, lived up the expectations. The 3-day event, held on the second weekend of September, featured 52 show flights, pilots from 7 different countries, and a light painting drone show seen for the first time in Szeged.
Lightshow and aerobatics: welcome to the Szeged International Airshow
The 2022 Szeged International Airshow kicked off on Friday afternoon with model aircrafts, paragliders, hang gliders, skydivers, a T-28 TROJAN, the Silver Chicken CAP-21DS from Italy, Dr. Martin Gräf from Germany with the EXTRA 300S - and all this before sunset. A special treat for aircraft enthusiasts was the guest appearance of the Hungarian Air Force’s JAS 39 GRIPEN fighter jet.
The opening day’s main attraction - just like in previous years - was the light show, featuring well-known favorites of SZIA. A returning participant of the Friday evening program is the Hungarian MI-2 Heliforce, presenting an amazing helicopter flight with pyrotechnics. Another returning favorite is Marek Choim from Poland with his EXTRA330SC, entertaining guests with breathtaking aerobatics, which is completed with pyrotechnics on Friday.
The Austrian Red Bull Blanix-Team arrived with their incredible mirror flight show - a challenging performance done very rarely by gliders - while Fire Fantasy, the Szeged-based fire juggler team, prepared for the 2022 SZIA with a spectacular LED show.
As with the rest of the event, the light show also renews from year to year, featuring elements never before seen in the City of Sunshine. This year CollMot Entertainment's spectacular drone show with more than 100 drones painted light and Szeged-related images to the night sky.
Airshow fun at the 2022 SZIA
Although it was raining in the morning, Saturday’s program went on to be a success. Demonstrations included flights and aerobatics, amongst others by a Cessna U206F Stationair Seaplane, Hungarian fighter pilot Gyula Vári with his YAK-52, glider aerobatic world champion Ferenc Tóth, and the L-29 Delfin fighter jet, plus most of the previous afternoon’s flights.
The last day of the airshow, Sunday was dedicated to helicopters, featuring demonstrations by a BELL 206 Jet Ranger, as well as Red Bull’s BO-105 and Cobra Bell AH-1, amongst others.
Accompanying programs this year included a giant inflatable obstacle course, the Crazy 5K, consisting of 10 obstacles on a 5 km long course. The local clown doctors’ foundation organized various kids’ activities, the fees of which were donated to support the foundation’s work.
A helicopter simulator awaited those staying on ground level, while for those who wanted to see Szeged from a bird’s-eye view, sightseeing flights with planes and helicopters were coming and going all weekend.
The detailed program of the 2022 Szeged International Airshow was covered in our pre-event news article, which can be reached here. Two programs had to be canceled, the Hawks of Romania team could not come because of a Covid case, while world champion air racer Péter Besenyei had to cancel his show because of technical problems.
Szeged International Airshow in 2023
From year to year, SZIA offers a whole weekend dedicated to airshows, with some of the biggest names in European aerobatics and air racing. Organizers rated the 2022 event as a full success, pushing the Szeged International Airshow’s reputation further - both on a national and an international level. SZIA is promised to return in 2023 with a show even more spectacular than this year.
Images: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify
