Red Arrows airshow in Menorca cancelled amid alleged row over Gibraltar
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has reportedly cancelled a Red Arrows airshow over the Spanish island of Menorca amid claims that pressure from the Spanish authorities prevented the Royal Air Force display team from performing another show in Gibraltar.
Spain, which disputes the UK's sovereignty over Gibraltar and claims the territory is Spanish, is said to have made it near impossible for the world-renowned RAF aerobatic display team to perform there.
Spanish authorities are said to have objected to the planned show over the British Overseas Territory known as The Rock as it would have meant allowing the RAF Hawk jets into Spanish airspace.
According to The Sun, Mr Shapps cancelled another show planned for the Spanish island of Menorca at the eleventh hour, just as the RAF team were preparing to take off in the early hours of the morning for the display.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told Forces News: "As part of operational planning, a variety of potential display dates and locations are considered by the RAF.
"A wide range of factors influence whether these are able to proceed."
A source, however, told The Sun that Spanish authorities had threatened to ban inbound civilian flights from using Malaga as their designated diversion airport in a row over the Red Arrows' Gibraltar show.
They explained: "That would mean every plane to Gibraltar would need more fuel to get to an airport further away in an emergency."
The source added that such a move would add costs to airlines and might therefore mean they would run fewer flights to Gibraltar, which would hit the territory's economy.
Local officials are reported to have taken the threat seriously enough to ask the MOD to cancel the show in Gibraltar, and Mr Shapps is understood to have decided to go even further by banning the show in Menorca as well.
A defence source told The Sun: "It's totally hypocritical. Spain were happy for the Red Arrows to perform in Menorca to boost that island's economy, but not on Gibraltar."
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