Balloon Aloft Australia announced on Wednesday that the fiesta - which was set down for the October long weekend - will not be held in 2020 as the current state border closures would prevent more than half of the pilots from attending.

The event - which would have been in its tenth year - usually brings about 30 balloon pilots, and hundreds of passengers and spectators to the Hunter Valley.

"Earlier in the year we closed the fiesta to spectators in order to reduce the number of people at the launch location and best comply with current restrictions," Balloon Aloft director and event organiser Matthew Scaife said.

"With the recent closures of some state borders, we have found that more than half of the private pilots that were scheduled to fly with us in the fiesta will now be unable to join us.

"This has greatly reduced the number of balloons available to fly during the fiesta. In light of this, as well as recent government advice, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the fiesta.

"We realise that this may cause some disappointment. We too are very disappointed not to be able to host this event this year.

"Our team have been working hard throughout the past few months to ensure that we could hold this event in a COVID-safe manner but ultimately, given the closure of state borders, we wholeheartedly feel that waiting until 2021 is the best decision."

The Hunter Valley Balloon Fiesta started as a two-day event in 2011, and has doubled to run from Friday to Monday of the Labour Day long weekend.

Last year's event featured 32 balloons, with more than 500 passengers taking to the skies over the four days.

Meanwhile, Balloon Aloft's regularly scheduled hot air balloon flights will still be operating during the 2020 long weekend.

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