Farnborough International is an exhibition and conference venue at Aerospace Boulevard, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 6TQ. The site is home to FIVE, the Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre, and includes outdoor hardstanding areas, a network of chalet and pavilion buildings alongside the airfield, and car parking for tens of thousands of visitors. The venue hosts trade shows, conferences, corporate events, and gala dinners throughout the year, and is the home of the Farnborough International Airshow.
FIVE opened in 2018 as a purpose-built replacement for the older exhibition buildings on the same site. It provides 25,000 square metres of column-free exhibition space across two main halls, a 2,800-seat auditorium, a suite of conference and meeting rooms of various capacities, and a 600-capacity banqueting suite. The halls can be divided or combined depending on event size, making FIVE capable of handling events from a few hundred to 20,000 or more attendees.
The wider site extends beyond the main building. Outdoor hardstanding areas alongside the runway have hosted static aircraft displays and large equipment exhibits for decades. The chalet and pavilion strip runs along the flight line and is occupied during the Farnborough Airshow by aerospace and defence companies who use their spaces for client hospitality. The site connects directly to Farnborough Airport, which handles business aviation and charter flights during the airshow period.
Farnborough International sits close to junction 4A of the M3 motorway, accessible from central London in under an hour and from Heathrow Airport in around 45 minutes. Farnborough Main station is a 15-minute walk from the site entrance and is served by South Western Railway trains direct from London Waterloo, making the venue straightforward to reach by rail or road.
For events outside the airshow calendar, the venue is used year-round by organisations in the defence, aerospace, technology, engineering, and professional services sectors. FIVE can host everything from a 200-delegate conference to a multi-hall trade exhibition filling both halls simultaneously.
The Farnborough International Airshow is the headline event, running every two years in July and alternating with the Paris Air Show as the world's leading aerospace and defence trade event. Trade days run Monday to Friday, with public flying display days on Saturday and Sunday. Aerospace manufacturers, defence contractors, airlines, military procurement agencies, and aviation technology suppliers attend from over 100 countries. The 2026 edition runs from 20 to 26 July.
Outside the airshow years, the venue hosts a full programme of industry events, including:
For Expo Hire's supply to the biennial airshow specifically, see the Farnborough International Airshow 2026 event page.
The Farnborough International Airshow has taken place since 1948 and is recognised as one of the most significant trade events in any sector. The trade week draws government procurement delegations, airline executives, defence ministers, and major manufacturers for five days of commercial negotiations and live flying demonstrations. Corporate hospitality is built into how companies operate at Farnborough.
The chalet and pavilion strip along the flight line is occupied by aerospace and defence organisations hosting clients across the five trade days. Formal lunches, afternoon drinks receptions, evening dinners, and working breakfasts are all part of the programme. For companies where the discussions in their chalet concern aircraft orders, defence contracts, or government procurement, the quality of hospitality reflects on the organisation.
Most chalet and pavilion operators hire their catering and hospitality equipment rather than buying and transporting it. A biennial event held over one week does not justify purchasing and storing crockery, glassware, linen, and furniture for two years between shows. Hired equipment is delivered to the venue, used across the event, and collected by Expo Hire after the show closes. There are no storage costs, no transport burden after the event, and no capital tied up in assets that sit idle for two years.
Expo Hire has supplied exhibitors and chalet operators at Farnborough International for a number of years. The range covers the full hospitality cycle, from morning coffee service through hosted lunches to evening glassware and dessert service.
Expo Hire supplies furniture, chairs, linen, crockery, glassware, and catering equipment to exhibitors, chalet operators, conference organisers, and event hosts at Farnborough International. The range covers everything from a handful of poseur tables for a small stand hospitality area to a complete week of formal dining for a large chalet hosting hundreds of covers per day.
Expo Hire's furniture hire range for Farnborough International events includes:
Expo Hire's chair hire covers every seating configuration found at Farnborough International:
Expo Hire's linen hire covers table dressing for formal and informal setups at Farnborough International:
All linen arrives laundered and pressed, ready to dress tables without preparation on arrival at the venue. For chalet operators managing tight build-up schedules, this is a practical benefit.
Expo Hire's crockery hire covers the service requirements of hosted meals at Farnborough International, from working breakfasts to multi-course seated dinners:
Crockery is supplied in protective transit crates and is commercial-grade white porcelain, consistent across the full range and suited to formal dining at chalet and FIVE banqueting events.
The corporate hospitality programme at the Farnborough Airshow places high demands on glassware. Expo Hire's glassware hire range includes:
Glassware is supplied in stackable transport crates designed for the purpose. For chalet operators running multiple sittings per day across the five trade days, having the right quantity of glassware in rotation is as important as the quality of the items. Expo Hire can advise on quantities based on cover numbers and sitting frequency, and replacement items can be added mid-week where breakages occur.
Expo Hire's catering equipment hire range supports food and drink production and service at Farnborough International events:
The primary customers at Farnborough International are exhibitors and chalet operators at the biennial airshow. Aerospace and defence companies with chalets and pavilions along the flight line hire furniture, catering equipment, glassware, and linen to run hosted hospitality across the trade week. For these operators the hire order typically covers five days of repeated sittings, from morning refreshments through to an evening reception or dinner.
Conference and corporate event organisers also hire from Expo Hire for non-airshow events at FIVE. Working breakfasts for 100 delegates, award dinners for 400, product launches with a reception and buffet, and leadership conferences all draw on the same range of furniture, chairs, linen, and catering equipment. Expo Hire supplies events of these kinds throughout the year at Farnborough International, not only during the airshow period.
Exhibition stand builders and event production companies hire furniture and catering items for stands and display areas where the fit-out specification includes a client hospitality zone beyond what the venue supplies as standard.
Buying crockery, glassware, linen, and catering equipment for a temporary event at Farnborough International requires storage between events, transport to the venue, cleaning and packing after use, and eventual disposal or resale. For an event like the airshow, which runs for one week every two years, owned equipment is inactive for nearly the entire time it exists.
Hired equipment is delivered to Farnborough International before the event, used, and collected by Expo Hire after it ends. Storage, logistics, and handling between events are Expo Hire's responsibility. This is particularly relevant for fragile items like glassware and crockery, which need careful packing to survive transport intact.
For organisations that hold events at Farnborough International once or twice a year, the same calculation applies. Buying and maintaining equipment for a few days of use per year is rarely the most cost-effective approach compared with hiring it as needed.
Expo Hire delivers to Farnborough International in Hampshire and to all venues across England and Wales. Delivery and collection starts from £40. Full delivery rates are shown on the delivery charges page, calculated based on distance from Expo Hire's depot.
For airshow deliveries, Expo Hire works within Farnborough International's managed build-up schedule. Equipment is delivered during the formal build-up window and collected during or after the breakdown period. Chalet operators with specific delivery timing requirements should contact Expo Hire in advance to confirm logistics. For large orders or time-critical requirements, early discussion of delivery details is recommended.
The minor damage waiver is available on all orders and covers light handling damage to glassware, crockery, and other items.
Equipment can be browsed by category and added to a basket online at expohire.com. For large multi-category orders covering a chalet fit-out or a full event, contact Expo Hire to build a consolidated quote. This is particularly useful for first-time customers at the airshow who want to confirm quantities for their cover numbers, number of daily sittings, and event format before committing to an order.
For the 2026 Farnborough International Airshow, bookings should be placed as early in the year as possible. Equipment availability during the airshow period is limited and cannot be guaranteed for late orders. See the Farnborough International Airshow 2026 event page for further information.
Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre is at FIVE, Aerospace Boulevard, Farnborough, GU14 6TQ. The venue is signposted from junction 4A of the M3 motorway. Farnborough Main railway station is a 15-minute walk from the main entrance and is served by South Western Railway trains direct from London Waterloo. Farnborough Airport, adjacent to the site, handles business aviation and charter flights for international visitors during major events.
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