Hopes are high that the Red Arrows will perform at next year's Falmouth Week despite the port's harbour commissioners' made the "agonising" decision not to fund their appearance.

Mark Sansom, harbour master and chief executive of Falmouth Harbour Commissioners, announced the decision at the organisation's annual meeting last week after revealing the commissioners had made an operating loss of £20,000 in 2015.

This has been put down to factors beyond the company's control - a continuing decline in one of the company’s major income streams, commercial shipping, and the ongoing pilots' pension liabilities, which in 2015 cost FHC nearly £240,000.

To ensure the long term viability of the business, FHC is reviewing the decision to replace one of the pilot boats, LK Mitchell, and they will also not be in the position to sponsor the Red Arrows display, which this year attracted over 40,000 people to Falmouth.

Mr Sansom said: "It was something we have agonised over. We have been doing it for a number of years while we have been able to do so. The downturn in commercial shipping forced us to make some hard decisions and the Red Arrows was one we could not really continue to justify.

"We are having to to make tough business decisions and regrettably this means that after seven years of organising and funding the Red Arrows display for Falmouth Week, we will now be needing someone else to step forward to enable it to return in 2017.

"We are prepared to work with other funding partners and the RAF to ensure the event runs smoothly. We have established how popular the Red Arrows are and what sort of footfall they attract and how the town benefits. Now we have had them, there's information about if there are alternative funders looking for the value of the sponsorship."

Work is now going on to secure alternative funding for the display. Town manager, Richard Gates, who coordinates Falmouth Week's shore-side entertainment, said: "We are working hard to identify other partners and hopefully we can bring the display back in 2017. We cannot 100 per cent guarantee it, but it is looking promising."

Falmouth's mayor, Grenville Chappel, added: "We are doing all we can to see if somebody or a group of people can fund it. We are looking for any offers of help but I am confident Richard will be able to do something."