I was there Wednesday and it was quiet, very quiet. But quiet shows can do business even though quite clearly not all the exhibitors were happy with their lot. I was busy for quite a few hours but would normally do at least two full days there when it was at ExCel/Duxford/Redhill.
As for tyre kickers, they were certainly disappointed - but as we know these events are not about how many airframes there are on the ground [one R22, one R66 and two R44 inside plus 2 quadcopters inside and one coastguard aircraft outside]. From my point of view it severely restricted the photo opportunities that might lead to an interesting write up that might entice more exhibitors to attend in the future. After all the furore put up by people on here not being able to attend Helitech because it was off airfield [ExCel] the organisers take it out into aviation territory and no-one flies in! Yes, I read the reason why above but it makes it no less palatable.
Certainly mixed opinions among exhibitors who ended up talking amongst themselves. Again not necessarily a bad thing.
Some odd rumours about 2020 including "Aberdeen in September" ..... That rumour was not researched simply because if the exhibitors this years were not happy overall with their lot there will be no Vertical Flight anywhere. Few of the exhibitors will have known the total worth of the event until this afternoon so the jury is still out. There is no such thing as a bad show unless it is difficult to get to and much too expensive. Money is the decider.
Another rumour to chew over is that Reed the organisers prefer not to use temporary buildings and that is why they rejected Duxford and will not take up with several other venues. Odd that because this year Vertical Flight was held in one of the few 'proper' buildings at Farnborough and right alongside the bases for dozens of the temporary buildings that the Air Show is famous for using.