INDIA. India’s leading outdoor advertising company Times Innovative Media (Times OOH) has been awarded an exclusive 20-year advertising contract for the recently opened Manohar International Airport. The greenfield airport has been built by GMR Group at Mopa in North Goa and began operations on 5 January.
Times OOH noted the potential of advertising for relevant brands at the new airport. They will be able to reach large numbers of international and domestic tourists visiting Goa each year, attracted by white-sand beaches, active nightlife, places of worship and World Heritage-listed architecture.
Manohar International Airport has been developed to ease capacity constraints and flying time restrictions caused by a strong military/naval presence at the existing state commercial airport in Dabolim, South Goa.
The Mopa airport – which serves both domestic and international passengers – will be developed across four phases to reach a target passenger capacity of 13 million travellers a year, a number which will far outstrip the 8 million currently served by Dabolim Airport.
Times OOH President Shekhar Narayanaswami said: “North Goa has been the favourite haunt of tourists from India and abroad due to its popular beaches and the active nightlife it has to offer. An airport in its proximity would serve as a convenient transit point for most travellers.
“After scripting a successful running advertisement partnership with the GMR Group at Delhi Airport, we are delighted to partner once again as the exclusive advertisement concessionaire for Mopa Airport too.”
He added: “Due to its strategic location, direct international flights, and unrestricted fly-time options, we expect Mopa Airport to be the preferred transit point for travellers to and from Goa.
“We have deployed a wide range of world-class media options that would cater to the contemporary and modern media objectives of local and international advertisers.”
Times OOH offers media solutions across airports, Metro, and street furniture in India and Mauritius. 
 This short feature forms part of our new Sight Lines section, dedicated to the world of airport and other travel-related Out of Home advertising and communications, writes Martin Moodie. It takes the same name as a successful ezine of the same name we published from April 2019 until the pandemic brought much of world travel to a halt. We are delighted to restore it, initially in column form, as the airport advertising sector bounces back with encouraging speed and vigour. All stories are archived under ‘Airport Advertising’ on the home page drop-down menu under ‘Other Revenues’.  Nowhere do the worlds of aviation and advertising converge more than in airports, often to riveting effect. Given how airports serve a crossroads of humanity, across geographies, cultures, religions, ages, advertising serves as a kind of Esperanto of the travel and communications world, a universal language that speaks to a population constantly on the move. Digitisation, once viewed as a threat to traditional airport advertising as millions of consumers looked down at their mobile devices rather than ahead (or up) at traditional advertising formats, has proved instead to be a positive game changer. Airports companies (and other travel infrastructure operators) and their concessionaires are increasingly deploying the flexibility and targetability of digital communication with thrilling impact. We’ll be devoting extensive coverage to this once again burgeoning sector with a surprise or two along the way. To borrow from both journalistic and advertising parlance, watch this space. ✈ *Send us your Out of Home advertising and communications stories to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com |
