After bidding for the new World Air Games, Turin scored victory on June 1st 2007 over four other finalists from Australia, United Kingdom, Russia and Denmark.
Contributing factors in the win were close attention to the FAI’s strict requirements, the favourable fall-out from the recent Winter Olympics in Turin and credentials founded in Italy’s hundred year aeronautical tradition, represented in the Turin area by firms such as Alenia Aeronautica, Thales Alenia Space, Selex Galileo Avionica, Avio, Microtecnica, not to mention the celebrated Department of Aerospace Engineering of the Politecnico (Scientific University).
The event, in its entirety, will not be limited to the purely competitive aspect. Apart from attractive opening and closing ceremonies, during the week of the World Air Games, a series of parallel cultural events and entertainments is planned, themed around flight, including a ?? of aeronautical films, themed exhibitions, construction of light aircraft in public in the city centre, contests for schoolchildren with little, basic, model aircraft, conventions of an aeronautical nature, concerts inspired by the world of flight.
In the spirit of the new-style World Air Games, the competitions, demonstrations and record attempts will take place in a very restricted geographical area, centred on Turin, thus allowing the spectators easy access to the greatest number of events possible. Of the planned 27 competitions, 21 will take place at the Turin-Aeritalia airport.
The hot air balloon competition will take place at Mondovi, Para-gliding and hang-gliding at Avigliana on Lake Grande, while the Indoor Aero-model contest with music will be held in Turin’s Palaruffini sports hall.
Particular attention will be paid to site accessibility for the disabled.
Attraction
Sport carried into the third dimension.
The dream of flight.
Only the best athletes in the world are invited to the World Air Games.
New
At least 15 competitions daily, 10 different disciplines, a full week of competitions.
Events from morning to night.
Parallel activities at the airport to help understand and interact with air sports: static exhibitions, demonstrations, flight simulators.
Involvement
Competitions close to the spectators.
Short, intense, contests thank to new, dedicated rules.
Worldwide television coverage with innovative technology.
Maxi-screens on the competition sites as well as in the city.
Non-stop spectacle, every minute will have its own special excitement.
The World Air Games 2009, like the Olympic Games, will balance the sporting with the mediatic and communications aspects, in unity of time and place.
An unforgettable experience
The spectators will live the competitions as if they were the athletes, living their experience, understanding the rules of the game and the skills required for victory.
The Values
The event includes, and spontaneously unites, values which blend with and reinforce each other:
 DREAMS and TENACITY
FREEDOM and COMMITMENT
CREATIVITY and SELF-DISCIPLINE
SOLIDARITY and COMPETITIVENESS
EXCITEMENT and RIGOUR
A fine example for today’s young people.
Which sports
The World Air Games include all air sports, from motorised aerobatics to gliding to helicopters, from parachuting to hang-gliding, from paragliding to hot air ballooning, from gas balloons to aero-modelling, from ultra-lights to experimental aircraft.
Every one of these sports will see the presence of the best athletes in the world, specially selected, in competitions carefully planned to involve the public.
The Top in technology
The contests will be shot from the ground, from helicopters, from telecameras installed onboard all the aircraft; radio links will carry the images and voices of the pilots to earth and GPS data from each aircraft will allow the reconstruction of the contest in virtual reality (America’s Cup style).
All this information will be available on TV, the internet and on maxi-screens located in the contest sites and the city centre.
Where
At the AeritaliaAirport, in Turin city, on the Avigliana lakes and in Mondovi.
Television coverage and new media
Worldwide coverage
TV, WEB TV, Streaming, Cellphones
Cameras on the ground and onboard helicopters, virtual reality
Live and deferred coverage
Who is the target audience
Aviation events (Air shows, Frecce Tricolori (Italian aerobatic display team), Aerobatics, Parachuting, Fly ins etc) attract a huge number of spectators in Italy, the rest of Europe and across the world (from tens of thousands to a million as at the annual Oshkosh Air Show in the USA).
The general public as well as confirmed enthusiasts are attracted to these days of festivity in the open air.
We expect 300,000 spectators, television coverage in more than 20 countries, the most industrialised ones, and more than 10 million internet hits.
The approach path
In summer 2008, a series of competitions will be held in all the disciplines (Test Events) in order to fine tune the organisation and raise interest in the World Air Games , offering the Media and spectators the opportunity to enjoy a foretaste of the excitement in store for them the following year.
 At the same time, the centenary of the first flight in Italy and the founding of the Aeroclub Torino will be celebrated.
In October 2008, the General Conference of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), with the participation of more than 80 countries, will be held at Saint Vincent.
Many other spectacular events are being finalised leading right up to June 2009, to the World Air Games.
The ceremonies
The opening ceremony will be in Piazza San Carlo, in the centre of Turin, preceded by a parade of the athletes/heroes of flight, in the style of Fifth Avenue New York. The closing ceremony, after the finals of each sport have been completed, will be at the Aeroport Aeritalia.
A full week
In order to carry off an extremely spectacular and involving event, combining sporting aspects, many other events have been organised in parallel which will guarantee the spectators brilliantly interest-filled days:
Air Village open to spectators every day with catering services, aeronautical games, attractions and evening concerts. Communications and promotional Stands are planned at the entrance to the Air Village for interested Sponsors.
In Piazza san Carlo, Turin’s central shop window, construction in front of the public of two ultra-light aircraft, starting from zero and being worked on 24/24. The test flight will take place on the final contest day.
Construction by the members of the public, with technical assistance, of aircraft parts to take home as souvenirs.
Air Movie Festival, showing films that have celebrated the euphoria of flight.
Exhibitions, pictorial, photographic and philatelic, on the subject of flight
International Techno-scientific Symposium on “Extreme Aeronautics” to examine and discuss the most recent developments in Aeronautical Technology.
Aero-modelling competitions among primary school pupils to select the finalists who, during the Games, will face off in the finals in public.
Competitive advantage
The World Air Games are a unique event: 10 different spectacular and exciting sports concentrated in rapid sequence in one place.
World Air Games are the only periodic, multi-airsport event of long duration (one full week) with a worldwide resonance and participation.
No other event exists in direct competition with them.
All sporting events, including the Olympics, take place in two dimensions, they are restricted to spreading across the ground: the World Air Games conquer the third dimension, they dominate the heights, skipping between what is above and what below in an absolutely unique spirit of liberty and creativity.
Air Sports present themselves as a voice singing its own song compared with more conventional sports, tainted with polemic, worn a bit thin by the everyday.
Air Sports are practised throughout the developed world, they truly are world sports: 90 countries are contending for the honour to participate in the World Air Games.
Compared to more exploited sports, they have unique characteristics of passion and ethics, with a real Olympic spirit.
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