‘Really sorry’: Premier speaks after Vivid drone show cancellation

Premier Chris Minns has apologised after Vivid Sydney’s drone show was cancelled on public safety grounds minutes before its scheduled start time on the final night of the festival.

The cancellation of the Love is in the Air drone show at Circular Quay was announced on Vivid Sydney’s website and on social media on Saturday night, about 20 minutes before its anticipated start time at 9.10pm.

A drone show over the Opera House at the 2023 Vivid festival.

In an update marked 8.43pm, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, at 8.52pm and on Facebook at 8.55pm, Vivid Sydney said the show could not proceed owing to forecasted weather conditions.

The event was free and unticketed, limiting options for communicating with festival-goers chiefly to online channels. Megaphones were used in some areas, as well as screens around the festival.

The show could not be postponed to a later time that evening because the harbour needed to reopen.

Speaking at a press conference in Sydney on Sunday, Premier Chris Minns said: “I am really sorry about last night. A lot of families and kids were really looking forward to last night.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, pictured earlier this month.

“It is deeply regrettable, and I am sincerely sorry. The decision was made by the drone operator and it was completely weather dependent. They made the call as late as possible – not to inconvenience families, but to actually see whether they could go ahead with the program.

“I know families are doing it really tough at the moment and the free entertainment that comes about as a result of Vivid and the drone show is welcome because it means you can take your kids and family out, and it doesn’t cost anything to see it.”

Minns said that “we are determined to see more of that in Sydney particularly over the next 12 months. This one didn’t go ahead, but there will be many more opportunities in the months and years ahead.”

They made the call as late as possible – not to inconvenience families, but to actually see whether they could go ahead with the program.

NSW Premier Chris Minns on the cancellation of Vivid Sydney’s drone show on Saturday.

The festival of light officially ended at 11pm on Saturday after running since May 24. However, the drone show was only scheduled on three nights of the program.

Organisers had earlier advised that “large crowds are expected for the drone show”, adding that drone operation “is highly sensitive and dependent on weather conditions to proceed”.

One TikTok user said she believed the decision should have been announced “at least 2 hrs earlier instead of 30 mins”. Another said she was “[a] bit disappointed as the weather wasn’t that bad”.

‘Public safety is paramount’

The drones were operated by the Australian Traffic Network (ATN), which has previously created drone shows for the State of Origin and Vivid.

ATN chief executive Vic Lorusso said in a statement on Sunday that “[our] pilot in command made the difficult but critical decision to cancel the final drone show last night”.

“The decision was driven by pilot experience, forecasted rains and continuous monitoring of the Bureau of Meteorology for 2.5 hours before the planned launch. During this period, we tracked a significant weather cell approaching, expected to coincide with our flight time,” he said.

“The risk of launching drones in such conditions was too great. Flying in poor weather conditions could lead to drone malfunctions or collisions, posing significant safety hazards to the audience.”

Lorousso told ABC Radio Sydney that “we had two amazing drone shows last weekend”.

“We’re as disappointed as everybody else, but I’m happy that I’m ... not launching them and having a malfunction.”

A Vivid Sydney spokesperson said: “We’re very disappointed that our final drone show was cancelled, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. Drone operation is very sensitive, and the shows are weather dependent.

“Public safety is paramount and Vivid Sydney follows the direction and advice of the specialist operators of the drones.”

In an incident during a lightshow in Melbourne last July, drones fell from the sky and plunged into the Yarra River ahead of a Matildas soccer match at Marvel Stadium. Nobody was injured.

Vivid Sydney narrowly avoided disaster last weekend when crowds swarmed to Sydney Harbour to capture a glimpse of the drone show, one of the main attractions of the annual festival.

After the show concluded at about 9.20pm on June 8, a bottleneck formed near the Overseas Passenger Terminal as the crowd moved towards Circular Quay and Wynyard train stations.

‘We have learnt the lessons’

Asked about the crowds around Wynyard Station, and whether they were an accident waiting to happen, Minns said: “Last Saturday’s crowd was not good. Mistakes were made; I think there was an under-appreciation of how many people would go out there.

“To give the organisers credit, they did a major walk-through the next morning, nobody tried to sweep it under the rug, it was a huge walk-through with [NSW] Police, emergency services and Vivid organisers. As a result of that, there were more road closures.”

Minns said that “we are a major city; we should be able to we should be able to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people, even close to 1,000,000 people on our foreshores. We have done that for the fireworks.

“Our job is to communicate for the best way for people to have fun and enjoy it. I am confident that we have learnt the lessons, notwithstanding the fact that last Saturday wasn’t great.”

with Sarah McPhee