Flying appeal.(Brief Article)

With more people flying for business purposes, where better for advertisers to attract the business audience than on board. Rob Gray examines in-flight media

Come Fly With Me crooned Frank Sinatra seductively in the 50s when air travel was still seen by many as an exotic adventure and was undertaken regularly only by the glamorous few. Now it seems almost everyone is taking to the skies. The air transport body IATA estimates that there were about 1.5 billion scheduled flight passengers in 1999 and the number continues to rise inexorably with each passing year.

But while Old Blue Eyes' song is evocative of the carefree jet-set popping off to Capri for some gilded cavorting, the in-flight audience that catches the interest of advertisers is a larger one: business travellers. Economic globalisation has meant that more people are working in jobs that require frequent international travel, a trend that is reflected in the increase of airline frequent-flyer clubs.

This is a prized audience that appeals not only to business-to-business advertisers but also to many consumer brands, due to the high disposable income typical of the category. In order to earn their money, however, most business folk have to work hard -- making them a difficult audience to reach.

"Everybody's after the frequent business traveller because they are light consumers of traditional media," British Airways' media commercial director, Caroline Warrick, says.

"Business people are media-loaded," Booth Lockett Makin's senior media executive, Ruth Snell, adds. "They are overwhelmed by messages and become good editors, filtering through them. But in the sky they are a captive audience."

Snell is enthusiastic about in-flight media and has bought it for several clients. However, many other media buyers remain lukewarm.