The Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta 2015

The Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta flew across the skies of London this morning in a stunning and historic flight.

Launching at just after 5am, forty balloons took off from Shoreditch Park and climbed up and out over the river Thames flying between Tower Bridge, the Shard and Canary Wharf.

The iconic London skyline was filled with this unique sight for over an hour, with many people on the ground posting and tweeting pictures of the unexpected sight of the Regatta balloons. Throughout the morning  #hotairballoons and #BalloonRegatta were trending on twitter.

The Regatta is in support of The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, working to raise awareness and funds for the Charity and to promote the City of London and those associated with it.  The Lord Mayor’s hot air balloon was the first balloon to take off, followed closely by well known city corporations, who have also chosen to support the charity. These include Aberdeen Asset Management, Fortnum & Mason, Stirling Ackroyd, Renishaw, Ricoh, British Airways, British Telecom and Universal Pictures.

This is the first time a mass ascent has flown in London in over twenty years and since then the skyline and airspace has changed dramatically.

This event was wholly arranged and devised by Exclusive Ballooning’s Chief Pilot Andrew Holly and Philip Saunders of the City of London Corporation. An idea that initially started in 2013, Exclusive Ballooning set out to raise £50,000 from the event and prior to the launch today, Andrew Holly had the pleasure of announcing that the current total raised by the Regatta was an impressive £78,884 and counting! A cheque will be presented to current Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow at Guildhall next week.

To see the official video from the Regatta please click here.