LONDON, 27 September 2007 — A British company Ad-Air Group on Monday launched a unique aerial advertising concept involving placing digitally-printed advertisements the size of three Manchester United football pitches on the ground alongside flight paths in and out of the world’s busiest airports. The company said it will launch at Dubai International Airport “the world’s first international network of flight path advertising sites” in October.
The target audience is airline passengers during takeoff and landing when all inflight entertainment or the use of electronic devices is off, seats are placed upright, tables stowed. Ad-Air is backed by hedge fund Sofer Capital.
Paul Jenkins, managing director of Ad-Air, who came up with the concept some five years ago, said “we have signed and sealed our first customer, a major UAE real estate developer, who will advertise for a period of 12 months.”
The advert at Dubai International Airport, which will be placed on a non-permanent frame at just above ground level, will be the largest outdoor aerial advertising in the world. It will attempt to get into the Guiness Books of Records by constructing the largest frame, bigger than the standard 20,000 square meters.
In the Middle East the material for the frame is made out of a hi-tech vinyl to prevent clogging up with sand and where there is very little rainfall. Elsewhere the material is made out of a mesh with holes to prevent ponding of rainwater.
Ad-Air Operations Director Haakon Dewing said the company was targeting 42 airport sights worldwide and has secured 18 sites with another 4 being finalized. Each runway will have two advert frames on either side within the field of vision and glide scope of the descent or takeoff. The advertising duration will typically be for 6 months or 12 months periods.
In the GCC, five airports are on board, including Dubai International Airport with an annual traffic of around 29 million passengers, King Abdul Aziz International Airport with an annual traffic of just over 15 million passengers, King Khaled International Airport with an annual traffic of about 11 million passengers, Abu Dhabi International Airport with an annual throughput of 5.5 million passengers, and Doha International Airport.
Outdoor advertising has been gaining momentum and major brands have increased their spend on such advertising by 27.8 percent to GBP932 million over the last three years in the UK and by 20 percent to $6.8 billion in the US, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association. In the UK alone this revenue spend on outdoor advertising is set to top GBP1.5 billion in 2007. At the same time there has been a 17.6 percent growth in passenger traffic through the 42 target airports during the same period.