Which format suits your campaign
- Aerial banner over a route: one message, read by everyone below. It suits a match, a beach, a mela or a marathon, where the crowd stays in the open for hours and the passes can be timed to the moment it is largest.
- Branded helicopter flypast: the aircraft itself carries the brand. It suits a venue where a banner route is not permitted or the message is the brand rather than a slogan.
- Helicopter arrival at a launch: a guest of honour, a product or the brand arrives by air at a township, showroom or project launch, and the landing becomes the photograph everyone shares.
- Branded joy rides: short flights for guests, dealers or contest winners. See helicopter joy ride.
Formats combine well. An arrival can end with flower showering over the inauguration, and aerial filming of the flight gives the campaign its video. For candidates and party leaders touring several towns, see election duty helicopter hire.
How an air advertisement flight is booked
- Requirement. You send the city and venue or route, the date and the time window when the crowd is largest, the format and the banner wording.
- Feasibility. The operator checks which aircraft suits the format, where it would be based, and whether the airspace allows an advertising flight there at all.
- Permissions. Air traffic control near airports, the district administration and police for a public event, and the venue organiser. The route and height are fixed in the permission. Allow several weeks.
- Written quote. You see the full cost before anything is booked.
- Flying day. The flight goes only in safe weather and only along the permitted route; the decision to fly is the operator's.
What decides the cost
- Flying hours, including positioning from the operator's base to the city and back.
- How long the aircraft stays on task: a few timed passes cost less than a long window over the venue.
- The format and equipment: a banner, branding on the aircraft, or a landing at the venue.
- Permissions, landing and night-halt charges, where they apply.
- Extras on the same day, such as joy rides, flower showering or aerial filming.
What to check before you pay
- Which permit-holding operator will fly, and which aircraft is planned.
- Who arranges each permission, and the route and height they allow.
- That the quote is all-inclusive: positioning, flying, banner or branding, permissions and taxes.
- What happens to the schedule and the cost if weather or a permission stops the flight on the day.
Other aerial jobs, from LiDAR survey to industrial drone survey, are listed under aerial work.