2026-07-13 AIBF Pilot Announcements Begin

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First Participating Pilot Announcement for the 2026 ExxonMobil Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta® is friend Tristan MacLean who will be flying Enchanted Horizons, for the event’s Official Title Sponsor, Exxon Mobil. He’s the founder of Always Time to Fly, a commercial balloon ride company that has grown steadily since Tristan won the 2018 Hawk Tank business plan competition at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Note that the first participating pilot announcements for last year’s event began at 10:52 am MT, on August 2, 2025. We will be following the format below for 2026 pilot announcements:

Pilot: Tristan MacLean
Announced: July 13, 2026 9:01 am MT
Hometown: Glendale, AZ USA
Balloon Talk Member since May 18, 2015
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1491145969723995&set=a.559675206204414

2025 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Final Numbers

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On November 13, 2025, AIBF issued a news release to the media and posted the same information to their website
under Latest News and Updates –  ExxonMobil Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Final Numbers.

On November 15 at 8:35 am MT, the festival’s official Facebook page posted the news on its Facebook page in a graphic. Full news release text was not added to the post. Sadly, the number of Balloon Fiesta LIVE views reported were off by a large amount. Following is the text from that “Final Numbers” graphic:

Final numbers for the 2025 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta…

  • 851,994 estimated guests
  • 537 registered balloons
  • 651 registered pilots
  • 1,018,013 Balloon Fiesta LIVE views

Statistics from the news release can be viewed on our Ballooning News 2025 Official Numbers page