Sky Sites wins contract for Heathrow Express stations

Sky Sites, the airport poster contractor, has won the advertising contract for two new rail stations at Heathrow serving the Heathrow Express high-speed train link.

The contractor, which is owned by the Havas group and is a sister company to roadside contractor Mills & Allen, pitched against the More Group to win the business.

It is understood another eight companies tendered for the contract. Sky Sites already handles advertising for seven BAA airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

The 400m Heathrow Express project is a direct train service which will run from Paddington to Heath-row, cutting the journey time from 50 minutes to about 15. Two rail stations will be built, one to serve terminals one, two and three and the other to serve terminal four.

Last July, BAA took control of the full project after acquiring British Rail’s 30 per cent stake in the joint venture for 19.8m. The new line is due to be finished by June 1998, with poster sites to be built in January and February.

Guy Cheston, managing director of Sky Sites UK, says: “The rail link is designed to appeal to AB business travellers as a fast and comfortable service.

The advertising will include duty-free goods, blue chip advertisers, such as luxury goods, and financial services, and possibly a “Welcome to the UK” element.

Recommended

Rosy future beckons for digital radio

Marketing Week

I read with interest your article “Capital rules waves after Virgin buyout” (MW May 15). I would like to take issue with the statement from a “senior radio source” quoted as saying that “no-one in radio thinks that digital will be a success in the next ten years”. Rather a sweeping statement, surely. The BBC […]