Balloon news | Montgolfier.co.uk

On this page we will keep you up to date with all of our hot air balloon news. From new Clients and new balloons to hot air balloon events which we will be attending this year.

On Saturday evening June 25th. we attended a wedding near Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and tethered our beautiful rainbow coloured balloon G-BTHF for Izzie. We were on site from 18:00 Hrs and the wind was very strong all evening. At 21:15 the wind dropped out completely and we were able to take the Bride and Groom up in the balloon for a tethered flight and some excellent pictures. Afterwards, we gave tethered flights to a further 50 guests as the sun was setting - a truly lovely evening for everyone.

It's Official .....

Airship & Balloon Company have been selected by the big man himself to supply transport for this year's Father Christmas deliveries.

London Marathon - 2021

Both Abbott and TCS balloons attended this year's Virgin London Marathon on Blackheath Common and despite a gusty wind Pilots Sue Carden and Nick Langley kept the Sponsors' balloons tethered from 08:00 - 10:30, which was pretty remarkable, given the forecast 24 hours earlier. The new TCS balloon was officially launched at the event, to celebrate TCS taking over as Title Sponsor of this amazing event for the next 6 years.

https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com/news-and-media/latest-news/tcs-becomes-new-title-partner

TCS London Marathon

Camp Wildfire

For 2 consecutive weekend in early September, we attended Camp Wildfire 2021, near Sevenoaks, Kent, with one of our bannered balloons. We gave short flights to over 200 people each weekend and were again blessed with fantastic weather in a deep valley, adjoining the main activity site. Late night party-goers turned up as early as 05:30, to ensure that they didn't miss their allocated flying slot. A good time was had by all.

More details on the activities available at Camp Wildfire can be found here -

Camp Wildfire - activities

Bristol Fiesta Fortnight - August 1st. - 15th.

Although the Pandemic caused the Fiesta organisers to develop a different type of event this year, we were delighted with the response from spectators and the 'Bristol Public'. Groups of balloons took off from multiple launch sites around the City at the same time and we were invited to launch our Minion special shape from Queen Square, with a member of the Costa Coffee sponsorship team as our passenger. The view was extraordinary, with balloons airborne from 4 points of the compass and we do hope that this can be repeated in 2022. We also flew some of our regular passengers in our passenger balloon over the weekend, including Bridgete and Gemma - 5 years in a row for them! Thanks to the organising committee and particualrly REM, who worked tirelessly to make this year happen. See you all in August 2022.

June 15th. - announcement from Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

FIESTA NEWS
BRISTOL INTERNATIONAL BALLOON FIESTA 2021
We have taken the decision to change our plans of holding Bristol International Balloon Fiesta at Ashton Court Estate in 2021, instead we are planning ‘Fiesta Fortnight’ with flypasts and ballooning spectaculars for the city this August.

Balloon Fiesta anouncement

G-KAWS - special shape balloon

May 17th. 2021
Another interesting project, was the filming of our very exciting Special Shape in a private location, which allowed us to free-fly and still keep the balloon details secret! We teamed up with Flying Pictures to use a GB Helicopters Squirrel Helicopter, with Pilot Will, DJI Inspire 2 drone and a couple of FPV drones. We managed to get all of the filming done with a couple of tethers and 3 free-flights, with perfect weather. All of the filming was in 4K - watch the video by clicking the link

March 22nd. 2021
ITV asked us to tether one of our balloons for a TV commercial for Weight Watchers, for their Motivational Mondays feature on This Morning. We tethered the balloon in Ashton Court and the film crew recreated an outside 'studio set' for the presenters, complete with sofa. Weather was perfect and the whole shoot went well.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
March 17th. 2021

March 1st. 2021

This extraordinary image was taken by long-term friend of ABC, professional photographer Chas Breton, at the launch of Breitling Orbiter 3 in Chateaux d'Oex, Switzerland, 21 years ago today! https://www.facebook.com/chasbretonphotography/

This 55 metre tall Cameron Balloon went on to be the first balloon to fly around the world, with Pilots Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard in just 20 days. http://www.orbiterballoon.com/getdoc/1eb8ae78-6ec9-491b-8fe6-087d6fe3e3d9/feature.aspx

It landed safely in Egypt, on March 21 and is now on display at the National Air & Space Museum, in Washington DC - https://airandspace.si.edu

22/02/2021 - Lockdown being eased!

We were pleased to hear that some of the Lockdown Restrictions are being eased by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and that there is now a clear Roadmap defining the way out of the pandemic.

ABC has some exciting projects waiting to come on stream, including 2 filming jobs in March, so let's hope that the weather also improves and we can get back to what we are good at!

Stay safe from everyone at ABC.

2021 is looking brighter!

With the launch of the latest vaccine, it looks we may have turned the corner with Covid-19 although there is still a long way to go.
Most balloon events which were scheduled for early 2021, including the Alpine meet in Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland, have been cancelled, but we are looking to attend several European and Asian balloon festivals from Easter with our balloons.
Oh and don't forget Universal Pictures will be launching a new Minion Movie in summer 2021! You can see a great trailer here - Minions - the rise of Gru

Stay safe.

Happy New Year to everyone - let's hope this year is better than the last one!

Thank you to the BBC for an amazing alternative New Year's Eve celebration, broadcast midnight on December 31.
It was incredible, so please take a look if you can - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000qr76/happy-new-year-live

Bristol Fiesta Flypast -
August 3, 2020

Although the organisers were forced to cancel the 2020 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, due to Covid-19, we really wanted to bring a smile to disappointed Bristolians. So this morning 42 balloons took off from Ashton Court, on a beautiful sunny morning and drifted south, over the City, with a fantastic view of Brunel's world famous Clifton Suspension Bridge behind us.
ABC Pilots, Nick Langley and Sue Carden, flew one of our unbranded balloons G-CIXU across Bristol and enjoyed an hour of memorable flying - taking video and still images of the flight, our beautiful City and the other balloons.

2020 Bristol Balloon Fiesta - update
Statement from the organisers - 07:00 Hrs. July 2, 2020

A Message for Bristol

Statement from Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

Bristol Fiesta 2020 - update video

November 13, 2019
Saga International Balloon Fiesta, Japan.

Our team have now arrived back in the UK, thanks to state airline ANA, from a hugely successful appearance with Stuart The Minion in Saga, Japan. The Fiesta saw 920,000 spectators attend over the event and we had hundreds of people queueing up for their very own selfie with Stuart. Take a look at our Facebook and Instagram accounts for more photos of the fantastic Saga International Balloon Fiesta - @airshipballooncompany

October 7, 2019
Despite the European balloon flying season coming to an end, we are off to Asia to take part in the Saga International Balloon Festival, in Japan from October 21st. Stuart the Minion was collected from Cameron Balloons today and will be taking part in the Special Shapes Fantasia and we are very excited to be attending this fantastic hot air balloon spectacular.

2019 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. Although the weather was not ideal, we had a great Press Flight on Thursday morning and almost 100 balloons flew across Bristol and many landed on The Downs, having crossed the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge. Our ABC balloon carried BBC TV presenter Ali Vowles and photographer Nick Smith and we were able to fly alongside our Shield Environmental balloon - and were escorted by Darth Vader!

June 2019
we visited Taiwan again with Stuart the Minion, to attend a new Balloon Festival, just outside Taipei at a recreational resort, next to a massive lake. We tethered the balloon every day for 9 days and thrilled the visitors with a Night Glow at weekends.

2018 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

Despite the weather turning breezy over the Fiesta weekend, we were delighted with the TV and SM coverage which our balloons delivered for Clients Universal Pictures and Shield Environmental. We were live on ITV and the Guardian carried a superb picture of both balloons tethered for the massive crowds. The free flight from Ashton Court to Durham Downs, where around 100 balloons landed, was memorable. A big thanks to the ABC Pilots and Crew from Sally, Bex and myself for your hard work.

August 2018

Press Day at Bristol has been very busy today with BBC, ITV and Sky broadcasting live from Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

August 8, 2018

Having arrived back in Bristol on Monday, after 3 weeks in Taiwan - and 2 very long aircraft flights - Stuart the Minion will be appearing at Bristol International Balloon Fiesta tomorrow. We are very excited that he is attending and hope that the weather is kind to us. One of his new friends will also be there.

Also appearing at this year's Balloon Fiesta will be our new Client, Shield Environmental, who will have their branded balloon tethering and free-flying on Thursday and Friday.

July 15 2018

Stuart the Minion visited the Taiwan Balloon Festival in July and was the star of the show with hundreds of people each day, taking selfies at the basket. We did a live TV broadcast for national TV from the basket, on a very long tether and managed to include a picture of Pilot Nick Langley eating one of Stuart's favourite snacks - BANANA!

June 28 2018 - Stuart the Minion really 'wow'd the crowd' and we hope to be visiting Asia again in 2019.

April 22, 2018 - Virgin London Marathon
For the tenth year, Airship & Balloon Company were appointed by London Marathon to manage the hot air balloons, which have become a focal point for runners, spectators TV and media, at the Start,on Blackheath Common. This year's activity began with light winds and shallow fog, but finised with a strong and gusty wind which blew across the Heath. Pilots and crew worked very hard for almost 3 hours, controlling the massive balloons and used over 1,500 litres of Liquid Propane Gas.
Existing Clients, TATA and Abbott were in attendance, but this was the first appearance for our new client Audible and ABC was pleased to show Bryony and Ricky from Audible, their new marketing tool. Both were 'blown away' by the very distinctive balloon, which will be making future appearances at other large events.
Thanks to the ABC Crew, Sue, Chris, Richard, Robin, Claire, Kevin and Iain for your professionalism and hard work.

Summer 2017

Twente Balloon Festival, Netherlands - Stuart the Minion was the star of the show.

Photos credit -Miriam Jurg, Cameron Balloons, Holland

April 2017

After 5 weeks on Standby, we flew our new Minion Balloon across the English Channel on April 7, as part of the Guinness World Record attempt. The flight was amazing and Stuart the Minion generated worldwide publicity for our Client, Universal Pictures. Thanks to the ABC Flight Team, Sue, Robin and Graham, for all of your hard work - Nick Langley

Prison Stuart balloon and support vessel - with Minion landing pad - part way across the English Channel!

Email: nick@montgolfier.co.uk
+44-7971-154717
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