Who's flying over SF?Report a sighting

Ask about time over the city, transit and the cost of making the banner. Those details can change the quote.

Small planes tow red letter banners across the sky
Letter banners outside SF. “Yippee Ki Yay” by Joe Shlabotnik, CC BY 2.0. Cropped for this page.

Start with a short brief

Tell the operator the date, the area you want to reach and the exact words or artwork. Ask for a quote that separates these items:

Keep the message short enough to read from the ground. Give the operator a phone-sized mockup as well as the full artwork.

Two published price references

Monaco's Sam Blond reported about $6,000 for six flight hours. Aerial Messages lists $2,550 for two hours and lower hourly rates for larger bookings. Neither is a quote for your flight.

Monaco's account · Aerial Messages rates

Operators and brokers to contact

These companies advertise Bay Area service. We have not booked or evaluated them. Ask each company who will operate the aircraft and whether it can serve your date and location.

Aerial Advertising Services

Livermore, CA (registration addresses in Livermore and San Jose)

Letter banners, aerial billboards, logo boards, political and personal messages

Aircraft records associate this operator with several tails in our flight archive. We have not confirmed which campaigns it flew.

Sources: aerialadservices.com · aircraftdata.org

FlySigns Aerial Advertising

Hayward Airport (Bay Area base); LA office

Airplane and helicopter banners, skywriting, LED night signs, in-house banner production

Says it has operated from Hayward since 1989; flies 1,000 ft over downtown SF and 500 ft over the bay; banners must be down by sunset. Printed billboards $1.15–$1.89/sq ft.

Sources: flysigns.com

SoCal Skywriting

Lists a home base in the SF Bay Area (also LA, San Diego)

Skywriting/skytyping, airplane banners

Same phone number and email domain as FlySigns.

Sources: socalskywriting.com