For years, airline media has mostly been sold one format at a time.
A page in the inflight magazine. An ad on the entertainment system. A banner on the airline's website. Perhaps a lounge activation if the opportunity and budget allow.
Each of these can work. But a list of advertising formats isn't a media strategy, and it's no longer how most advertisers think.
Start with people, not ad space
Advertisers usually begin with the people they want to reach, not the advertising space they want to buy.
They might want to reach affluent international travellers, senior businesspeople, frequent flyers, luxury consumers or passengers heading to a particular destination. The format comes later.
This gives airlines a much bigger opportunity than simply selling individual advertising spaces. They have a relationship with passengers across the whole journey, often starting weeks or months before the flight.
That journey can include researching and booking a trip, pre-departure emails, time at the airport and in the lounge, inflight entertainment, Wi-Fi, shopping and arrival at the destination.
These are distinct moments, but each is part of the same passenger journey.
Look at the whole journey
Imagine a premium skincare brand that wants to reach passengers travelling to New York.
The campaign might begin with useful destination content on the airline's website. Passengers could then experience the brand in the lounge, see related content onboard and receive an invitation to visit the brand's flagship store after they arrive.
That's a much more interesting idea than simply asking the brand if it wants to buy a page or a banner.
It also gives every part of the campaign a reason to be there. The lounge experience connects with the digital activity. The inflight content supports what happens before and after the flight.
Together, they tell one story.
The industry is starting to move
This isn't just a theory.
Virgin Australia recently launched a travel media network bringing together digital, lounge, inflight and experiential opportunities, with further channels planned. Other airlines and travel companies are also looking at how the different parts of a passenger's journey can work together.
These ideas aren't new. AIM has been encouraging airlines to think this way for many years. What is encouraging is that more airlines are recognising their role as media owners, connecting their audiences, content and channels across the passenger journey.
There is still plenty of room to go further. Many airlines already have the right audience, digital channels and passenger spaces. The next step is to bring them together in a way that works for passengers, advertisers and the airline.
More advertising isn't the answer
A connected approach shouldn't mean surrounding passengers with more advertising.
Airline environments, particularly premium cabins and lounges, are valuable because they feel carefully managed. If advertising becomes intrusive, irrelevant or excessive, the airline risks damaging the very environment that attracted the advertiser in the first place.
The goal should be better advertising, not simply more of it.
That means choosing the right brands, understanding what might interest passengers and creating ideas that feel natural within the journey.
A useful service, an enjoyable experience or a well-chosen piece of content can add something to a trip. A badly placed message can quickly do the opposite.
Think about partnerships, not just placements
A placement is something a brand buys. A partnership should offer something to the brand, the airline and the passenger.
The brand reaches the right audience in the right setting. The airline earns revenue while protecting the passenger experience. The passenger receives something useful, relevant or enjoyable.
Getting all three right takes thought. It also requires a sales conversation that begins with what the advertiser is trying to achieve, rather than what space the airline has available.
The bigger opportunity
Airlines already have most of what they need: valuable audiences, digital channels, lounges, aircraft, content, Wi-Fi and shopping platforms.
The bigger opportunity comes from bringing these elements together.
When airline media is built around the passenger journey, rather than sold as a list of unrelated formats, it becomes more useful to advertisers, more valuable to the airline and more relevant to passengers.