Red Arrows to fly over London for Trooping the Colour celebrations today

The RAF’s acrobatic Red Arrows planes are set to put on a major display today to mark King Charles III’s Trooping the Colour.

The display will accompany a parade that will go through central London to mark the King’s ‘second birthday’ with other members of the royal family expected to be taking part in the celebrations.

Those heading out to watch the proceedings and hoping to catch a glimpse of the incredible feat are lucky, as the planes will fly directly over central London this weekend.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Trooping the Colour celebration times and route of the flypast.

What time is the Red Arrows flypast and where are they flying?

The flypast will conclude the Trooping the Colour parade happening across London at 1pm, when the King and the Royal Family make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the display as it flies over the iconic landmark.

Before it reaches London, however, the Red Arrows will fly over over parts of the UK, starting by taking off from RAF Waddington at around 11am before flying over the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts.

Around midday, the Red Arrow jets will turn over Colchester, Reading, and Chelmsford as they head through London for the main display at 1pm.

Following the display, the jets will then turn towards Windsor and Slough before continuing to Northampton and then Colsterworth.

How can I watch the Trooping the Colour flypast?

Trooping the Colour will be broadcast live on BBC in the UK today. It will include the parade, which starts at 10.30am and ends at 12.25pm at Buckingham Palace, as well as the flypast.

The flypast, and the parade, can also be watched from The Mall and surrounding areas, according to The King’s Birthday Parade.

For those who are close to the Red Arrows’ route, you should be able to see them whizz past by stepping outside of your home.

What aircraft will be taking part?

The list of aircraft taking part in the flypast has not yet been released, but it will likely be similar to the planes that participated in last year’s event.

The 2025 flypast consisted of 29 aircraft, including four Chinooks, a BBMF Lancaster, two Texans, an A400M Atlas, six Typhoons, two Juno helicopters, a C-17 Globemaster, and two F-35B Lightnings, as well as the Red Arrows.

The dazzling display comes as the Red Arrows kick off their summer schedule of displays. At the end of May, the jets kicked-off display season by making an appearance at the English Riviera Airshow in Torbay.

The daredevil group have confirmed additional displays for the remainder of the summer, including appearances at the RAF Cosford Airshow tomorrow and then several flights across the United States in July before returning to the UK in August and adventuring to mainland Europe.

More recently, the Red Arrows announced a major tweak for the display team as the number of aircraft were reduced from nine Hawk T1 jets to seven as the ageing fleet undergo maintenance.