News

The 2018 Indoor Skydiving Industry Report

 

2018 Indoor Skydiving Industry Report Header
January 20, 2019
Indoor Skydiving Source

Indoor Skydiving Source Presents the 4th Annual Industry Report

Join us for a recap of tunnel openings, notable events, and a future outlook as we take a look back at 2018 in the 4th edition of the industry report. To start, here are the hard statistics:

Without further ado, presenting the 2018 Industry Report:

2018 Indoor Skydiving Industry Report Infographic


2018 Tunnel Openings

Find the full list of new tunnels opened in 2018 below:

AirRider Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia (Strojirna Litvinov Tunnel Opened January 2018)
iFLY Toronto Whitby – Canada (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened February 2018)
Vertigo Indoor Skydive Centre – Ireland (AERODIUM Technologies Tunnel Opened February 2018)
Airfly Bretagne – France (Tornado Tunnel Opened March 2018)
FlyZone2 – France (Tornado Tunnel Opened April 2018)
iFLY Paramus – USA (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened April 2018)
Extreme Fly – Belarus (Custom Built Tunnel Opened May 2018)
iFLY Montgomery – USA (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened May 2018)
Vacuum – Russia (Tornado Tunnel Opened May 2018)
VenturiZone – France (Tornado Tunnel Opened May 2018)
Anti-Gravity – France (Tornado Tunnel Opened June 2018)
Fritz’s AERODIUM – USA (AERODIUM Technologies Tunnel Opened June 2018)
SuperFlight – USA (AERODIUM Technologies Tunnel Opened June 2018)
Fooni – Finland (Indoor Skydiving Germany (ISG) Tunnel Opened September 2018)
iFLY Birmingham (Bear Grylls Adventure Park) – United Kingdom (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened September 2018)
iFLY Queenstown – New Zealand (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened September 2018)
iFLY Jacksonville – USA (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened November 2018)
iFLY Minneapolis – USA (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened December 2018)
Windwerk – Switzerland (Indoor Skydiving Germany (ISG) Tunnel Opened December 2018)
Vallarta Adventures – Mexico (Tornado Tunnel Opened 2018)
Thailand Military – Thailand (SkyVenture Tunnel Opened 2018) (Private)

Noteworthy Events of 2018

Competition Grows in the USA

2018 was the first year that SkyVenture was joined by some new competition in the USA. Two new AERODIUM Open tunnels arrived on the scene in June. One in Miami, Florida and the other in Branson, Missouri. Joining these tunnels are a growing presence from Urban Air, a trampoline park company building locations into a number of their newer facilities.

While it may take many years for the USA to gain healthy, consumer-benefiting competition like we see in Europe, it looks like things may finally be starting to head in that direction.

New Zealand Gets a Modern Tunnel

After much waiting, New Zealand finally gets a modern wind tunnel. The tourism-fueled country has long needed an updated facility. While the new iFLY Queenstown location is a 12 foot model that is not widely favored by experienced flyers, it is a recirculator none the less. Locals and visiting flyers are putting the tunnel through it’s paces and helping improve the level of skydivers each day.

Virtual Reality + Indoor Skydiving Adoption

Both private companies and iFLY indoor skydiving have widely accepted virtual reality as an option for first time flyer packages. These experiences see flyers combining the thrilling feelings of flying in a tunnel with stunning skydiving visuals from some of the top destinations around the world. While it may look a bit funny from a spectators perspective, flyers seem to universally enjoy the experience!

Future Outlook

Worldwide things are getting interesting with developments in several areas:

  • Competition grows across Europe as a wider range of tunnels open – varying in size, location, and manufacturer.
  • USA is on the verge of some diversification as two AERODIUM locations open in 2018 with a handful of Urban Air locations on the horizon for 2019.
  • Asia continues as the new frontier for indoor skydiving as locations open in Japan, Korea and new locations are proposed in many locations.

The industry sees an increasing number of manufacturers, tunnels being constructed in a wider range of locations beyond the US and Europe, and technological improvements to the machines themselves. Despite the opening numbers slowly declining on the back end of a record-breaking 2016, the indoor skydiving industry continues to thrive with a growing number of future projects on the horizon.

Data for this report was gathered exclusively from the ISS location database.

To stay up-to-date with all future indoor skydiving updates, please subscribe below. Also be sure to share the report on social media or via email:

Published: January 20, 2019 | Last Updated: December 2, 2021

The 2018 Indoor Skydiving Industry Report
Written by,
Indoor Skydiving Source

Don’t miss an update!

Join our mailing list for the latest indoor skydiving updates delivered directly to your inbox.

"*" indicates required fields

Want to Fly?

Find a Tunnel Near You:

Build A Wind Tunnel - Indoor Skydiving

2 thoughts on “The 2018 Indoor Skydiving Industry Report”

    1. Indoor Skydiving Source

      Hey Lee – no info yet. The project is still in the (complex) process between being announced and breaking ground. Subscribe via the tunnel page / follow us on Facebook for updates.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *