Saturday's Manitoba Air Show at Southport, near Portage La Prairie, didn't exactly go as planned.

The event was plagued by significant traffic tie-ups, which delayed many people from getting into the show on time, while others became frustrated and left the line-up.

Air Show Coordinator Jill Oakes says despite months of work with the RCMP, MIT, and the RM of Portage about routes into the air show, a combination of factors thwarted them.

"They were supposed to work beautifully, but unfortunately, that heavy rain that we got destroyed a ton of work that the RM of Portage had put into grading and adding gravel to prepare those roads. Then the single-lane traffic on the Trans Canada was an issue -- that backed up traffic. There was a left turn that people were trying to make, which created problems. So there were some major issues that were beyond our control."

Oakes says they'll apply what they learned to future air shows, including one they've already discussed.

"And that is no at-the-gate tickets. All tickets will be sold on-line, so we will know at least a lot more precisely, how many to expect to attend the air show. So that people with tickets don't have to wait, and then have the infrastructure at the air show be clogged up with people that had just bought the tickets the day of the show that was impossible for us to actually accommodate."

About 18,000 people were at the show, while organizers had planned for 5000.

Oakes says there's a demand in this province for an air show, and they intend to stage another.

"And it's clear to us, definitely Manitoba is a centre for aviation. We have an amazing aerospace industry here that's internationally renowned. The general public demanded on Saturday to have an air show, and they really showed how passionate they are at making sure that we have another one sooner, not later -- not another six, nine years, what ever it's been."

While they first dropped ticket prices that afternoon, then allowed free admission, there won't be any refunds for those who left the line-up.