In his first interview since the full financial figures surrounding the ill-fated air show were revealed, the Liberal Democrat councillor said he was disappointed the event had made such a loss and insisted the town's council tax payers would not have to foot the bill for the disaster and services would not be cut.
"I am very, very disappointed it didn't work out this year and I am sorry," he said yesterday (Thursday). "I very much regret it.
"Sometimes you get things wrong, and we got it wrong. I put my hands up to that. The shortfall will be met from the council's strategic change fund and it will not be put on to residents' council tax bill."
As criticisms continue to dog both Councillor Tutt and tourism boss Norman Kinnish, the council leader is refusing to point the finger of blame as to why the event was such a disaster in financial terms and why only 48,000 people watched the show from a pay to view enclosure on the seafront.
"To blame anyone would be wrong," said Cllr Tutt. "The truth of the matter is that Airbourne has never been truly free. Somebody has always had to pay.
"CSMA paid as a sponsor but when we lost their sponsorship, no other was forthcoming. Last year Airbourne lost money and that was a burden on the council tax payer.
"We could not let that continue and decided to charge rather than increase the council tax.
"We asked our officers for a full range of figures and three scenarios, including the best and worst case scenarios. The cost was based on what our officers believed was the number of people who had attended the show in previous years and the price of smaller shows."
Questions have been asked as to why, in May, when members of the council's cabinet committee were told the show would cost an extra £250,000 to put on compared to last year did they not pull the plug on the show.
"By then it was too late," said Cllr Tutt. "We were contractually obliged to run the event. Flying displays had been booked months in advance and there would have been a penalty had we cancelled that.
"There were extra costs which we were not expecting, the £100,000 bill for extra policing, the cost of the flying displays down to the rising fuel prices. I did consider cancelling the show very seriously at the time but the penalty would have been too large."
An inquiry has now been launched which Cllr Tutt said he hoped would shine some light on "why the forecasts were so inaccurate and what the reasons for that were".
The politician said the way forward was to learn from this year's event. "We got it wrong and we don't want to get it wrong in the future." He said it was too early to say whether an air show would take place next year.
"We need to try and learn from this year's event and get an air show for the future that will not be a burden on the council tax payer. Clearly the charging didn't work and we can't run it in this way again.
"We are going to set up a think tank, a group of people who want to see Airbourne continue, who can bring their knowledge, their ideas in a positive fashion, to come together and look at how we can succeed."
On the table will be options for ensuring the event continues including abandoning the show altogether, shortening the show from four days to two or three, setting up a fundraising campaign to keep the show running, or calling for small sponsorship deals from individuals and organisations.
Cllr Tutt also said he wanted to reassure residents this year's shortfall would not be passed on through an increase in council tax bills.
"The shortfall will come out of the council's strategic change fund," he added. "This is a fund which had £375,000 in it last year but this year it has been built up to more than a million. Because of successes in other areas we are able to cover the cost without cutting services or bringing in an increase in council tax next year."