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Sheeran not expected to affect Warbirds

Ed Taylor.
Ed Taylor.
Wanaka's Ed Taylor does not think a certain other Ed will have an impact on the town's big airshow next Easter.

Mr Taylor is the general manager of the biennial Warbirds over Wanaka International Airshow, which happens to fall on the same weekend next year as pop sensation Ed Sheeran's three shows in Dunedin.

While there might be some overlap between fans of Sheeran and those wanting to attend an airshow, the events drew different crowds, Mr Taylor said.

Tickets for the airshow had been on sale since the start of the year and were significantly ahead of where they were at the same time in 2015, for the last show.

That event in 2016 attracted about 50,000 people over three days.

What worried organisers more was what the weather would be like for the show, he said.

If there was going to be any effect from the three concerts it would show up once the airshow's significant aircraft were announced.

''We know from past experience when we do announce those significant aircraft we get a spike in ticket sales, so if there was any effect it might show up then, but we're not expecting it to.''

Many accommodation providers in the Queenstown Lakes district were already fully booked for the weekend, so there was unlikely to be any issue with people attending the concerts in Dunedin taking all the accommodation, he said

''I think it's going to put a lot of strain on the southern region but generally, in the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago we are used to Warbirds weekends, so we are probably in better shape than Dunedin will be.''

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