The Red Arrows are set to stay in Canada “until further notice” after bad weather scuppered their return to the UK. The RAF aerobatic team began a multi-stop journey back to their base in Lincolnshire this week after completing a tour of the US.

However, their trip across the North Atlantic has been delayed by the conditions.

In a statement, the Red Arrows said: “Due to a prolonged period of forecasted poor weather in the north-eastern regions of Canada, the team is postponing its return Atlantic crossing until further notice. The intention remains to fly the Red Arrows’ Hawk aircraft back to RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, and recommence the summer season as soon as the jets are recovered to the UK.”

The jets are set to undergo a period of planned post-tour maintenance while they wait at CFB Goose Bay, a Canadian military base in the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

While the work is carried out, a number of personnel deployed on the tour will take their mandated mid-season leave with their families in the UK.

The Red Arrows said the weather is currently “outside of operational limits” for the ageing Hawk T1 jets.

The conditions have already seen the aircraft forced to return to the Goose Bay base on one occasion, the team added.

Crossing the North Atlantic with the single-engine jets, which cannot refuel mid-air, “requires extremely careful planning and the right conditions”, the RAF said.

The Red Arrows have flown the Hawk T1s at airshows since 1980, with the aircraft due to go out of service in March 2030.

No decision has been made on the replacement of the Hawk T1 which has sparked fears the military could struggle to find a successor in time.

The firm behind the only UK-designed-and-built contender to replace the Hawk entered administration in May, raising the chances that the team will be flying foreign jets for the first time in the future.

The move is aimed at enabling forward planning around engineering resources and fleet viability.

The Red Arrows tour of the United States, known as Operation Eagle Hawk, began in June.

It has included performances in Washington DC, Michigan and most notably New York City for celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence on July 4.

No date has been set for the Red Arrows’ return to the UK, with the team’s next scheduled display due to be at the Eastbourne International Airshow on August 14.

The Red Arrows are expected to fly home via Greenland and Iceland.