Wings India 2026 day one: air show steals the spotlight

As dusk fell over Begumpet on Wednesday, the first day of talks and deal-making at Wings India 2026 gave way to a spectacle in the sky. What was billed as an inaugural aerial display became a fitting finale to day one, with participants drawn from the boardrooms to a celebration of the flight.

Four Extra 330SC aircraft, flown by British pilots Mark Jefferies, Chris Burkett, Peter Wells and Chris Heames, cut through the gloom, their lights forming sharp arcs overhead. The plane flew low over the hall, leaving behind glittering trails of colored dust, from saffron to green.

There were cheers as the formation entered a tight spiral, releasing a plume of gray smoke in the team’s signature ‘dotty’ effect. At one point, the pilots etched two giant hearts more than 1,000 feet tall. The pace picked up with a dramatic sequence in which planes flew away, only to rush back towards each other in a series of countercrosses, closing in at speeds of more than 400 miles per hour before neatly breaking up.

Just as the last plane climbed out of sight, the sky changed roles again, becoming a screen for the drone show that followed. As sunset gave way to night, a group of green-lit drones gathered into a glowing rectangle, their color intensifying against the deepening blue.

Phones and cameras were instinctively raised as the formation took off, splitting into four stacked rectangles before morphing into the outline of an airplane window, with a luminous Charminar at the center.

The sequence flowed seamlessly from one image to the next, with silver and gold formations generating cheers as they flickered and reassembled. A towering ATC structure topped by a flying plane appeared, accompanied by stories of India’s aviation journey. Moments later, the drones outlined the map of India, with aircraft symbols connecting airports across the country in red and blue, before the image dissolved into a rotating globe.

The images continued to build ambition and detail. A plane appeared to be descending towards a runway, creating the striking illusion of an actual mid-air landing. Above the elevated location at Begumpet Airport, the drones formed the figure of a female pilot, a nod to India’s distinction of having the highest percentage of female pilots in the world at 15%. This gave way to symbols of sustainable aviation fuel, reflecting the industry’s commitment to net zero emissions, followed by digital icons representing Digi Yatra, Airsewa and e-DGCA, capturing the shift to paperless, passenger-friendly travel. The story ended with formations depicting aircraft manufacturing, underscoring India’s growing ambitions in the global aviation supply chain.

For almost fifteen minutes, the sky acted as a living canvas, holding the audience’s attention without pause. The show ended with the Wings India logo, the words “we have reached our destination” echoing through the venue, and finally the Indian flag unfurling in saffron, white and green in the night sky.