Hot Air Balloon Festival sets a new world record with 524 simultaneous launches

The organizers of a hot air balloon festival in New Mexico announced that they had set a Guinness World Record by launching 524 balloons simultaneously.

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta organizers stated that they originally set the record for greatest mass hot air balloon ascent in 2010 when 329 balloons were launched simultaneously.

The following year, the festival broke its own record with 345 balloons, but the record was later broken by a French event with over 400 balloons.

According to Paul Smith, executive director of the Balloon Fiesta, organizers decided to stop pursuing the record after it was claimed by the event in France, but organizers realized after the 2019 launch featured 524 balloons that they may have unintentionally broken the record.

The festival’s spokesman, Tom Garrity, said he contacted Guinness late last year to see if the documentation from the 2019 event would be enough to claim the record, and organizers have now received word from the record-keeping organization that their application has been approved.

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is set to begin on October 2, 2021.

Also Read

Man skates across Canada to protect the bees, breaking the Guinness World Record

A Canadian man strapped on his in-line skates and rolled more than...