Major Swansea road closures announced as city prepares to welcome back airshow

The main East to West route across Swansea is set to close to make way for the return of the city’s popular airshow.

Wales Airshow is set to return on Saturday 2 July and Sunday 3 July, with tens of thousands of visitors expected on the city’s promenade and waterfront for the action-packed weekend.

The council say that this year, as in previous years, there will be road changes to help keep people safe, including the closure of the A4067 Oystermouth Road in both directions for the show’s duration.

On Friday, July 1, Oystermouth Road will be closed westbound – towards Mumbles – from noon between the West Way and Brynmill Lane junctions. Diversions will be in place via Carmarthen Road. This will allow exhibitors and traders to set up on the westbound carriageway. Oystermouth Road traffic will be able to travel eastbound until Saturday morning.

Over the weekend, Oystermouth Road will be closed in both directions – between the West Way and Sketty Lane junctions – from Saturday 8am to Monday 5am.

The council says that access to the Marina, Singleton Park Boating Lake and Swansea University will be maintained throughout – and that emergency access will be maintained at all times.

Some of the world’s best pilots and flying displays will use the natural amphitheatre of Swansea Bay to show their skills, pulling off eye-catching aerial acrobatics.

Swansea Prom will be transformed with ground displays, food and drink trucks, live music, demonstrations, family activities, rides and more.

The Wales Airshow has grown in popularity from 75,000 visitors in its launch year in 2009 to an audience of around 250,000.

The event, organised by Swansea Council, last took place in 2019 before the pandemic caused cancellation.

Robert Francis-Davies, the council’s cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, said: “The people of Swansea and visitors from across the country love the Airshow. It’s become one of the best free events in the UK – so it’s good to have it back!”

Spectators can head to the airshow for 10am on each day, when the ground displays open. The show closes at 6.30pm on both days.

As usual, a section of Oystermouth Road will be closed for the weekend to ensure a safe event environment for the many visitors. This event space – as it did in 2018 and 2019 – enables a large number of number ground displays and creates a visitor area where people can move safely without the risk of traffic. Emergency access will be maintained at all times.

Diversions and parking facilities have been arranged – and park and ride made available – to ensure visitors can reach the event whilst keeping traffic moving around the city as much as possible.

The city centre will remain open for business.

Cllr Francis-Davies said: “To accommodate the show’s many visitors safely and comfortably, we need large amounts of space. For this reason, parts of Oystermouth Road are included in the event footprint. This can only be done safely by completely closing it to traffic along a short section.

“Closing the road is first and foremost a safety measure. However, we then try to optimise this space to improve the show’s content.

“We want to get the message out now – in good time before the event – so people can take the temporary closures into account and plan appropriately.

“We know motorists will be disrupted but we’ve listened to feedback from previous years. As a result, Oystermouth Road’s westbound traffic will be open until noon on the Friday and eastbound traffic will be open until 8am on the Saturday.

“This is will help keep traffic flowing on a busy Friday. I encourage motorists to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys.” 

Andrew Stevens, the council’s cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said: “Oystermouth Road is one of our busiest routes so the decision to close it for the Airshow isn’t taken lightly. It is really the only safe option for the many thousands of visitors.

“Our highways team have put in place a series of diversions to keep the traffic moving during the weekend.

“We’re promoting the closure and diversions as widely as possible to enable motorists to plan their journeys in advance. This will hopefully help to reduce disruption for those not attending the event and to improve the experience for those that are.”

(Lead image: Swansea Council)