15 Biggest Kites In The World

Kite flying is a very popular fun sport especially in China, Japan, India, Indonesia, and USA. It is not certain where the kites first originated. Some believe it is originated in China while other think it is South Pacific Islanders who first originated the art of kite flying. It is also most popular pass times for the people around the world.

Flying kites is also one of the most popular fun sports for the people of India from olden times. It is most popular in the state of Gujarat. The kite festival in Gujarat held every year in the month of January. Colorful kites of different shapes and sizes covers the sky during this time.

A kite is an unpowered, heavier-than-air flying device held to the earth by a line. A kite consists of three basic parts: the body, the line, and the bridle that attaches the line to the body. To enable the user to control the movement of the kite, the bridle must be attached to the body of the kite in at least two places.

The word kite has been derived from the name of a type of bird belonging to the hawk family which is know for its graceful, soaring flight.

Fun Fact

If you didn’t know, kite flying is a huge pastime in China and has pretty historic roots. Believe it or not, kite flying is believed to have started in China! While it’s a popular way to spend a sunny afternoon now, kites were once used for military purposes.

Kites were flown to measure distances, to help the military strategize and figure out how to move large armies and supplies across the land. Plus they were used to communicate from afar. Pretty cool, right?

15. 90 Tawa Kite

Location: India
Measurement: 5 foot

An Indian man has claimed that his kite is one of the biggest in the world. In the video uploaded on youtube, he can be seen flying this huge kite, which he says is as huge as 90 frying pans put together. Interestingly, the colour of this kite is also black, which makes it look as if it were a real gigantic black frying pan.

14. Full of Colours

Location: China
Measurement: 6-9 feet

These big and colourful kites have become anew delight in the Chinese province now. Since normal people cannot invest their time in making huge kites, this new trend has become very popular. These kites are big, lightweight and very easy to fly in light breezes.

Some of these kites are as huge as 9 feet and adorned in such beautiful colours that people even take them home for decoration purposes. Also, since these kites are very light in weight, they can fly even when there is no wind at all.

13. Grandfather’s Kite

Location: India
Measurements: 10 foot

This Indian youtuber posted a video of his grandfather making his grand children learn how to fly a kite on the occasion of the Indian festival of Makarsankranti. The massive 10 foot kite had to be carried by three people to send it skywards. Two people can also be seen helping from the other terrace.

While all this goes on, people in the surrounding areas also climb up to their terraces to witness the spectacle. The kite was so huge that it had to be flown with the help of three spools.

12. Kite War

Location: Punjab, India
Measurement: 12 feet

Basant has been a historic spring time kite flying event during the Basant Panchami festival in the Punjab region in India. According to the Punjabi calendar it is held on the fifth day of lunar month of Magha (in late January or early February) marking the start of spring.

The people in the Punjab region of India take this festival to a whole new and exciting level. People prepare huge kites and indulge in kite wars. In this particular video, the kids prepared a huge kite that was 12 feet in height. This kite won the kite war and also won a huge amount of money.

11. Mega Pearl

Location: Qatar
Measurement: 14 foot

In 2011, Peter Lynn Kites made a 1250 metre square, inflated kite for the Al Farsis. It’s a large Ray, called The Pearl. However, because of Al Farsi’s nervousness about the nose line as the only take-down option, the Pearl has only ever been flown three times and has just arrived back in New Zealand to have a rip panel fitted.

10. European Union Kite

Location: Ukraine
Measurement: 14 foot

Lithuanian kite masters from aitvarai.com lifted enormous European Union flag of 850 metre square up to the sky. The action took place in Krasnoarmiysk (Pokrovsk) of Doneck oblast in Ukraine.

A unique technology has been used to lift up the flag, using connected kites of original construction, created by the kite masters themselves. The flag, 60 kilos in weight and 850 sqm area, was lifted to 100 m height. The event was officially recognized as a record by specialists of Ukraine’s National Register center.

According to them, it was a world record as well, having in mind that no one ever succeeded in lifting a flag this big without any fuel usage. The most important mission of this event was to show a positive attitude towards western Europe values of Doneck region people and their wish to colaborate with EU.

“This festivity was the first Europe Day celebration after war actions in our city, therefore registering a record is a double joy for all our citizens,” Krasnoarmiysk’s Mayor Ruslan Trebushkin said.

9. Jaipur’s Biggest Kite

Location: Jaipur, India
Measurement: 25 foot

An Indian youtuber vlogged about the biggest kite in India. In the video, a man can be seen saying that he had built the biggest kite ever and that he had read about the dimensions of other kites and none matched upto the standards of his kite. This kite is believed to be 25 feet and is coloured in bright pink.

Surrounding the kite are highly excited and curious people, who want this kite to be flown high in the sky. The onlookers help in tying wooden sticks to the kite and now the kite is ready to soar.

8. Peter Lynn Kite

Location: New Zealand
Measurement: 30 foot

Peter Lynn (born 1946) is a New Zealand kitemaker, engineer and inventor. He is notable for his construction of the world’s largest kites, giant inflatable display kites (the most widely known is the 27 m octopus kite), the popularisation of kite buggying. He spends much of the year travelling worldwide and displaying his kites at International Kite Festivals.

In 1995, he designed the ram-air inflated Megabite, a 635 square metre kite. It was accepted as the world’s largest kite by Guinness in 1997. When on the ground, more than 1000 people can comfortably stroll around inside it. He also designed the current Guinness record holder, a 1019 square metre Kuwait flag, which took over the world record from the Megabite in 2005.

7. The Hope

Location: Kuwait Hala Festival
Measurements: 31 foot

The largest kite ever flown, has a total lifting area of 950 m² (10,225.7 ft²). When laid flat, it has a total area of 1019 m² (10,968.4 ft²). The kite measured 25.475 m (83 ft 7 in) long and 40 m (131ft 3 in) wide. The kite was made by Abdulrahman Al Farsi and Faris Al Farsi and flown at the Kuwait Hala Festival in Flag Square, Kuwait City, Kuwait on 15 February 2005.

6. Blue Whale Kite

Location: New Zealand
Measurement: 52 foot

The unusual sight of a 16-metre blue whale soaring through the air over Adelaide will greet the public this weekend, as part of an international kite festival to be held over the Easter break. Mike Fardon of the Adelaide Kite Flyers Association told 891 ABC Adelaide the annual beachfront event at Semaphore had 50 official flyers registered this year, and each might have several kites in the air at any time.

“The biggest one is being flown by one of our guests from New Zealand; it’s a blue whale, 16 metres long … and it weighs about 16 kilos, which doesn’t sound very much but it’s a lot of fabric to be flying in the air,” Fardon said.

Other keen flyers that could be seen in the festival included a Japanese kite master, the New Zealand contingent and a Tasmanian who travelled the world taking part in kite festivals.

5. Octopus Kite

Location: Hohhot Kite Festival, China
Measurements: 72 foot

At 110 metres long, 15 metres wide, and weighing 200 kg, this Octopus kite stole the show at the Hohhot First Kite Festival in Xilamuren, China, in 2014.

Covering an area of 1,500 square metres when spread out on the ground, it was designed and made by the Heige Kite Team from Tianjin, in central China, in 2013. 

To get it upwards into the sky, it required a mammoth struggle, with more than 30 people helping to bring the octopus into the air.

The record-breaking kite was one of 35 teams from all over the world that took part in the spectacle. As well as the huge octopus, there were also panda-shaped kites, teddy bear kites and a Father Christmas one on show at the gala.

4. Gigantic Beast

Location: Scheveningen Kite Festival, Netherlands
Measurements: 75 foot

On September 28, 2013 the largest kite ever was airborne during a festival at the beach of Scheveningen, Netherlands. At 4-5 knots, the weather was perfect to fly this humongous kite in Holland’s cloudless sky. A lot of other voluminous kites could be admired, but this gigantic “beast” simply outperformed them all in every aspect.

This behemoth took to the skies casting a giant shadow over the puny humans below and it looked a lot like a giant leech.

3. Dragon Kite

Location: International Kite Flying Festival, China
Measurements: 77 foot

A 6,000-meter-long kite took flight in the skies in Wulong county, Southeast China’s Chongqing municipality on April 4, 2015.

The dragon shaped kite, the world’s longest that kicked off the International Kite Flying Festival in 2015 attracted kite flyers from 13 countries and regions. The dragon-shaped wonder was made up of 2,000 pieces, each printed with the characters Chinese Dream.

It took six to eight hours to release the entire kite into the sky. The record-breaking kite is longer than the current longest kite Guinness World Record holder, which is 5,000-meters-long.

2. Mega Ray

Location: Germany
Measurement: 80 foot

Peter Lynn’s Mega Ray is a truly astounding piece of modern kite engineering. With good reason, it has been proclaimed the world’s largest kite — 42 metres from wing-tip and 28 meters deep, a delightful 600 square of lifting surface, not including that humongous tail.

The Mega Ray was flown at many events by Peter Lynn Kites and then sold to Lutz Treczoks, in Germany. Since Lutz’s untimely death (not from a kite accident) the Mega Ray has been ably flown by Sebastian Ju and team, also from Germany.

Mega Ray has velcroed sections on their upper surfaces that can be ripped open to deflate the kite by pulling a cord paralleling the main line. As for the Mega Ray, a line attached to the nose is used to de-power the kite and cause it to drift back to the ground without deflating. But the Mega Ray also has a rip panel.

1. Al Majd Kite

Location: Qatar
Measurements: 80 foot

Measuring 2,673 square metres, the Al Majd Kite was the biggest kite in the world is Al Majd Kite. This kite was tested in Beijing, China, and its height was 66 metres and width 40.5 metres.

This is the world’s largest kite and was flown in Qatar in 2018 in an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. The kite was made in the colours of Qatar national flag with a picture of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The kite named “Al Majd kite” (The glory kite) was the brainchild of Qatari poet Hussain Al Khayarin.  

“This initiative is part of my dream to enter Qatar’s name in Guinness Book through some work related to the Qatar National Day. I am trying to make this dream come true by flying the largest kite in the skies of Doha carrying Qatar flag and the image of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani,” Al Khayarin had tweeted.