Giant Ads Aimed At Passengers Aloft

If part of what you enjoy about flying is the view out the window, prepare for that small pleasure to be infringed upon by the marketing mavens. A company called Ad-Air, based in London, is creating what it calls the “first global aerial advertising network,” selling five-acre inflatable ads that lie across the landscape like giant billboards, strategically placed beneath flight paths into major airports. “What an incredible marketing opportunity – all these passengers with nothing else to do, staring down at the ground below,” Paul Jenkins, managing director of Ad-Air, told the International Herald-Tribune. Ad-Air said it has official okays to set up the ads near more than a dozen major airports in the U.K., France, Asia, and several in the U.S., including Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles International.

If part of what you enjoy about flying is the view out the window, prepare for that small pleasure to be infringed upon by the marketing mavens. A company called Ad-Air, based in London, is creating what it calls the "first global aerial advertising network," selling five-acre inflatable ads that lie across the landscape like giant billboards, strategically placed beneath flight paths into major airports. "What an incredible marketing opportunity - all these passengers with nothing else to do, staring down at the ground below," Paul Jenkins, managing director of Ad-Air, told the International Herald-Tribune. Ad-Air said it has official okays to set up the ads near more than a dozen major airports in the U.K., France, Asia, and several in the U.S., including Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles International.

Ad-Air has spent about $10 million to buy or lease sites below flight paths. The first site is to be unveiled later this month in Dubai.