The CEO wants it, the client asked for it, or the conference is four months out, and now airport advertising is yours to plan. This page is the first hour of that work: the five questions to answer before you talk to anyone, who you will deal with, what it costs, how long it takes, and what to send to get a real quote. From EAM Advertising, an airport advertising media agency that plans and buys across 125+ airports and 40+ media vendors. Get our media kit for formats, planning ranges, and booking windows.
You’re in good company
The first hour
Five things, and a range is fine for each: who you need to reach, which airports, when and for how long, how much, and what success looks like. With those five answered, any airport media agency can come back with current availability and a recommended mix. Without them, you get a rate card and a menu.
Question 01
Not 'business travelers'. The buyer, the attendee, the candidate, the investor, the visitor. The audience decides the airports, the terminals, and whether arrivals or departures matter more.
Write downThe one audience the campaign is for, in a sentence
Question 02
You usually know this already: the conference city, the headquarters cities of the accounts you want, the hubs your buyers fly through, the feeder markets for your destination. One airport is a real campaign; so is ten.
Write downThe airports, or the cities, in priority order
Question 03
The event week, the launch month, the quarter the budget belongs to. Airport media sells in four-week flights or 28-day periods, and event weeks by the week, so the dates set the buying unit.
Write downStart date, end date, and any week that cannot move
Question 04
A range is enough. One unit at one airport plans at about $7,000 to $50,000 for four weeks; five major hubs at $150,000 to $250,000; eight to ten airports from $500,000. Smaller airports run 25 to 40% less.
Write downA budget range, media and production together
Question 05
Being seen by the right people in the right week, photographed, and reported: proof of posting, play logs, and an audience you can describe. Airport advertising builds perception; it does not deliver click-through attribution, and the plan should say so up front.
Write downThe result you will show leadership, in their words
What you do not need yet
Creative, specs, vendor names, or a list of formats. The formats come out of the audience and the budget, the specs come after the units are chosen, and the vendors are the agency's problem, not yours.
Start your plan
Pick the path that matches where you are. Every path ends with current availability and a recommended mix.
The sixty-second version
Each airport's advertising is sold by one or more media owners under contract to that airport: terminal screens and signs by one company, airline lounges by another, security trays and Wi-Fi by others. You buy units, a spot in a screen loop, a banner, a spectacular, a lounge, for a flight of four weeks or 28 days, or by the week in event weeks. The airport approves the creative. An airport advertising media agency, independent of any media owner, plans the mix, buys from every media owner involved, and runs it under one contract.
Who sells it
JCDecaux, Clear Channel Airports, oOh!media, Times OOH, Boingo, and others hold the contracts to sell advertising inside specific airports. They are not agencies; they sell their own inventory, at their own airports.
How it is bought
A spot in a digital network loop, a banner, a spectacular, a lounge. Four-week flights or 28-day periods are standard; conference weeks sell by the week. Holds expire in days; contracts are non-cancellable once signed.
Who runs it
An airport advertising media agency such as EAM Advertising plans the mix, checks availability everywhere, buys from each media owner, traffics the creative through airport approval, and reports back, under one contract and one invoice.
Who sells airport advertising, and who is on your side: the full comparison on the hub.
The first call
If you want one unit at one airport you already know, the media owner's sales office at that airport will quote it. For anything else, more than one airport, more than one media owner, no prior experience, or a deadline, call an airport advertising media agency: it checks availability everywhere at once, builds the mix around your five answers, and handles the contracts, approvals, and proof. Self-serve platforms exist for some digital screens; they cover a slice of the inventory, with less control over position.
One known unit
You know the airport, the unit, and the dates. The media owner sells it to you from its rate card. You handle creative specs, approvals, and proof yourself.
Anything else
Several airports, several media owners, a first campaign, a conference deadline, or a budget you want planned rather than spent. One contact, one plan, one contract.
Digital screens only
Some airport screens can be bought programmatically. Useful for a quick digital test; it does not reach static units, spectaculars, trays, or lounges, and position in the loop is not yours to choose.
Your first move
The same five answers, a different first step. A coordinator gathers them; a director decides them; an agency gets them from the client before the client gets them from someone else; a consultant turns them into a recommendation the CEO can approve.
Marketing coordinator or manager
You were asked to 'look into airport ads.' Come back with the five answers and planning ranges rather than quotes. The media kit gives you the ranges and the vocabulary; the quote comes once the five answers are set.
Marketing director or VP
You own the budget and the dates. Decide the shape (one airport, a few hubs, national, global) and send the brief. Availability and a recommended mix come back; you decide, the agency executes.
Agency account director or planner
Your client asked for airports. Get the five answers from them before anyone else does, then bring in an airport specialist behind your team: planning, buying, and reporting under NDA, white-label if you want it.
Consultant or fractional CMO
Your client's CEO has already decided. You need ranges, lead times, and precedents that defend the number, then a brief that gets a real quote. The cost page and the case studies are the two documents to read first.
What it costs
At medium to large airports, from Phoenix (PHX) up to JFK, Las Vegas (LAS), and San Francisco (SFO): one unit at one airport plans at about $7,000 to $50,000 for a four-week flight, three airports at $75,000 to $100,000 at entry level, five major U.S. hubs at $150,000 to $250,000, and eight to ten airports from $500,000. Smaller airports such as San Antonio (SAT) run 25 to 40% less, depending on passenger traffic. Media only; production and installation of static units add about $1,000 to $15,000 per install.
One airport
One screen-network spot, one banner, or one spectacular for one flight. A two- or three-network package runs $15,000 to $110,000; owning the airport for a flight starts north of $150,000.
Three to five airports
Entry level across three to five airports for four weeks. Built for impact, with larger creative and more frequency: $100,000 and up for three, $250,000 and up for five.
Eight to ten airports
A national program with two or three international airports, four to eight weeks, every format possible.
The full ranges by campaign shape, format, and budget are on the airport advertising cost page.
How long it takes
Plan a standard multi-airport flight twelve to sixteen weeks ahead, and four to six months for marquee event weeks such as CES, SXSW, or RSA, when the strongest units sell out first. One airport outside an event week can move faster, but the creative deadlines do not: digital creative is due 14 to 18 business days before start, static units 21 to 28 days, and holds on inventory expire in about five business days.
| Weeks before launch | What happens | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 16 to 12 weeks out | Brief sent; availability checked at every airport; mix and range quoted | Decide the shape and the budget range; set the decision date before any hold is placed |
| 12 to 8 weeks out | Units held (holds expire in about five business days); creative submitted for airport approval | Approve the plan; start creative; do not sign until the creative direction is approved |
| 8 to 4 weeks out | Contracts signed; creative adapted to each airport's specs | Deliver final creative: digital 14 to 18 business days before start, static 21 to 28 days |
| 4 weeks to launch | Static units printed and installed; digital loaded and tested | Confirm posting before the first arrival wave |
| During and after | Proof of posting, photos, play logs; make-goods if anything fails | Collect the report; it is the asset you show leadership |
Lead times vary by airport and format; event weeks compress the decision, not the production. Each airport page carries its own booking windows.
Lead times by campaign, format, and event week are on the airport advertising lead times page.
Getting a real quote
Six lines, and a range is fine for each: the airports or cities, the dates and the flight length, who you need to reach, the objective, a budget range, and where the creative stands. That is enough for current availability and a recommended mix to come back. A rate card is what you get when you send less.
Airports and dates
'LAX, ORD, and JFK, four weeks starting the first week of March' is a brief. 'Some airports in the spring' is a conversation that has to happen first.
Audience and objective
'Enterprise security buyers flying to RSA; we want to be the name they see before the show floor' tells the planner which terminals, which direction, and which formats.
Budget range and creative status
A range sets the mix; the creative status sets the timeline. 'Budget $200,000 to $250,000; creative ready in four weeks' is all a planner needs to come back with a real number.
The six lines, line by line, with three sample briefs you can copy.
The first-timer traps
Six things, and all of them are avoidable: starting with formats instead of the audience, letting a hold expire, signing before the creative is approved, asking for a CPM, sending one creative for every spec, and treating the airport as one vendor.
Formats first
A spectacular is not a strategy. Decide who you need to reach and which direction they walk; the unit follows. Buyers who start with the menu end up with the unit that was available, not the one that works.
The expired hold
A hold lasts about five business days. When the approval meeting slips past it, the unit goes back on the market and comes back, if it comes back, at the price of the week it is re-quoted in.
Signing too early
Contracts are non-cancellable once signed. If the airport rejects the creative afterward, the media runs late or runs blank while a new version is produced. Submit for approval first.
The CPM question
Airport media is sold by the unit and the flight. Compare airports by what the unit covers and who walks past it, not by a CPM that each media owner reports differently.
One creative for every spec
One campaign across eight airports can mean a dozen versions. Plan one adaptation round per airport in the budget and the timeline, or the static unit gets printed twice.
One airport, one vendor
A single airport can involve four vendors and four contracts; ten airports can be fifteen. If you buy direct, you are the coordinator. If an agency plans it, you sign one contract.
Measurement
Airport advertising is a perception channel: it makes a brand look established to the people who matter, in the week that matters. What you measure is delivery and audience, not clicks: proof of posting and photos of every unit, play logs for digital networks, the airport's passenger figures for the flight, and brand-lift or recall research when the budget justifies it. Set that expectation with leadership before the campaign, not after, and the campaign photos become the proof.
How EAM Advertising measures a multi-airport campaign, on the hub.
Why EAM
Everything after the objective. We check what's open for your dates at every airport in the plan, which loops are crowded and which units will sell out, and where on the arrival path your audience actually walks. We recommend the mix, secure the units, traffic the creative through airport approval, confirm posting on day one, and deliver proof of posting and play logs after. One contact, one plan, one contract, whether the campaign is one airport or twelve.
Send the five answers. We come back with current availability and a recommended mix.
Ready to plan?
Airports, dates, who you need to reach, the objective, and a budget range. We come back with current availability at every airport in the plan and a recommended mix.
125+ airports · 40+ media vendors · Since 2015
“EAM made a nationwide airport campaign feel much easier to manage. The team was responsive, organized, and always on top of the details. They helped us make smart decisions with the budget, kept everything moving, and ultimately delivered exactly what we were looking for.”
Chief Marketing OfficerFortinet · nationwide airport campaignFor agencies and consultants
Agencies and consultants bring EAM Advertising in as the airport specialist behind a client’s plan. The client relationship stays with you. We plan, buy, and report under NDA, and can work white-label.
Get our media kitAirports
EAM Advertising plans and buys at 125+ airports across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, India, and Africa, and any combination runs under one contract. The most-requested airports are below; every airport, with search by city or code, is on the airport advertising hub.
Questions
Answer five questions before you talk to anyone: who you need to reach, which airports, when and for how long, how much, and what success looks like. A range is fine for each. Then get the media kit for planning ranges and booking windows, or send the five answers as a brief and get current availability and a recommended mix back.
Deciding who the campaign is for. The audience decides the airports, the terminals, the direction (arrivals or departures), and the formats. Everything else, including the budget range, follows from it.
For one known unit at one airport, the media owner that holds that airport's advertising contract. For more than one airport or media owner, a first campaign, or a deadline, an airport advertising media agency such as EAM Advertising, which plans and buys across every media owner under one contract.
About $7,000 for one unit at a medium-size airport such as Phoenix (PHX) for a four-week flight, and 25 to 40% less at a smaller airport. Three airports start around $75,000 to $100,000; five major hubs $150,000 to $250,000; eight to ten airports from $500,000. Production and installation of static units add about $1,000 to $15,000 per install.
Twelve to sixteen weeks for a standard multi-airport flight, four to six months for marquee event weeks. Digital creative is due 14 to 18 business days before start, static units 21 to 28 days, and holds on inventory expire in about five business days.
For one unit at one airport, yes: the media owner's sales office will quote it, and you handle specs, approvals, and proof. Across several airports you become the coordinator of several vendors and contracts, which is the work an airport media agency exists to do.
The airports or cities, the dates and flight length, who you need to reach, the objective, a budget range, and the creative status. Six lines are enough for a real quote; the brief form on this page takes exactly that.
Yes. Every airport reviews creative before it runs, some stricter than others, and a rejection after contracts are signed does not pause the media. Submit creative for approval before signing, and plan one adaptation round per airport for pixel sizes, spot lengths, and file rules.
Yes. A home-market airport, an event week, or a test at one airport is a real campaign, and it is how many national programs begin. Decide the shape by the audience, not by the number of airports.
Everything after the objective. We check what's open for the week, which loops are crowded and which units will sell out, and where on the arrival path your audience actually walks. We recommend the mix, secure the units, traffic the creative through airport approval, confirm posting on day one, and deliver proof of posting and play logs after. If the airport is one market in a larger plan, the same relationship covers the others.
Airport advertising media agency. 125+ airports. Est. 2015.
Send your work email for the media kit: formats, planning ranges, and booking windows. We’ll follow up to learn who you need to reach and when, then come back with current availability and a recommended mix.
125+ airports · 40+ media vendors · Since 2015
Sources
Updated October 3, 2026 · By EAM Advertising
EAM Advertising plans, secures, and buys airport and in-flight media across 125+ airports and 45+ airlines worldwide. Founded in 2015; collective operator experience in airport media buying spans two decades. Recommendations are based on what performs for the advertiser, not on inventory we have to sell. Clients include Dynatrace, Fortinet, Rubrik, McGraw-Hill, and Wharton.