The festival kicked off on Saturday, March 26, and despite concerns in the morning that rain could hamper the event, the skies cleared and warbirds enthusiasts from across the Upper Hunter were treated to formation aerobatic displays from the Paul Bennett Airshows team as well as flyovers from historic aircraft, including an Australian first flyover involving four P-40 Kittyhawks from WWII.

Upper Hunter Shire Council mayor Maurice Collison said the event had been well received from those in attendance.

"I went around and spoke to probably 30 or 40 people on the the day from all parts of Australia and beyond," Mr Collison said.

"Never got a bad comment from anyone, they all scored it very high on the day."

Mr Collison said after serving on the council's airport committee for 10 years he was glad to deliver the project for the community ahead of this year's festival.

"I'm so proud to be the mayor and to have been involved with it all the way through and I just believe it's going to be great in the years to come," he said.

With poor weather conditions grounding the planes on the second day of the festival on Sunday, Mr Collison said the festival had worked quickly to offer other opportunities for those who were affected.

"We did our best by letting them get out on the tarmac and have a look at those planes close up, which you normally wouldn't do," he said.

"(They were able to) talk to the pilots, get photos and, of course, (the council opened) up the attraction centre free of charge for them to go in and see exactly what was happening."

Mr Collison said the council was still working on collating exact figures on how many people had attended the Warbirds festival over the weekend but said he hoped the event had been a boost for local businesses, particularly following the impact on tourism caused by statewide COVID lockdowns in late 2021.

Prior to the event, Upper Hunter Shire Council estimated "more than $2 million will be injected into the local economy and accommodation is limited in a 200 km radius of Scone".

With much of the region's accommodation booked out for the event, Mr Collison said even pilots had to get creative in finding a place to stay.

"We had pilots sleeping on stretchers all over the place to try and get them into our town and the economy," Mr Collison said.

"And that's not just about Upper Hunter Shire making money at our airport or our airshow, it's all about helping people.

"Local business have struggled and I'm sure if you went and asked all the clubs and the hotels and the motels and coffee shops, they'd be very grateful for us putting some money in there."

With the Hunter Warbirds Attraction Centre having now officially opened to the public on Monday, March 28, Mr Collison said he hoped the centre would continue to draw in tourists outside of the airshow weekend.

"We've just got to keep pushing it and it's certainly a beautiful attraction to the Upper Hunter and along with everything else in the Hunter Valley," he said.