The model
Two groups see an airline's flight map: passengers who look up their own flight, and the people they share it with.
- Passenger views per flight = passengers × share who open the map
- Shared views per flight = passengers × share who share their flight × people who open each share
- Yearly impressions = (passenger views + shared views) × flights per day × 365
- Media spend replaced = yearly impressions ÷ 1,000 × CPM — what buying the same reach as display advertising would cost
Each view is counted once. Passengers who check their flight several times, and staff screens at airports and offices, add more — so the model is deliberately on the low side of real use.
Calculator
Views per flight
261
45 passengers + 216 shared
Branded impressions per year
28.6M
Media spend this reach replaces, per year
$229K
What buying the same reach as display advertising would cost — free on your own map, so it stays in house
Illustrative estimate from the assumptions above, not a measured result.
The default example, step by step
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger views per flight | 180 × 25% | 45 |
| Shared views per flight | 180 × 40% × 3 | 216 |
| Views per flight | 45 + 216 | 261 |
| Flights per year | 300 × 365 | 109,500 |
| Impressions per year | 261 × 109,500 | ≈ 28.6M |
| Media spend replaced | 28.6M ÷ 1,000 × $8 | ≈ $229K |
Choosing the assumptions
- Flights and passengers: use your own schedule and average passengers per flight (seats × load factor).
- Open rate: how many passengers open their flight on the map. It rises when the tracking link is in the booking confirmation, check-in messages and the app.
- Share rate and opens per share: how many passengers send their flight to someone, and how many people open each link — family picking them up, partners, colleagues.
- CPM: the price of 1,000 impressions in paid advertising. We use $8, the middle of commonly quoted targeted travel display and social CPMs (roughly $4–12). There is no published CPM benchmark for flight maps specifically, so try the range.
Free reach that keeps the budget in house
On a public flight tracker, every one of those views carries the tracker's brand and ads. On the airline's own branded map, each view is an impression of the airline's brand that it did not pay for. The airline can point that reach at its own ancillaries and partner programs — upgrades, lounges, loyalty, holidays, hotel and car partners — instead of paying for media to reach the same people.
Once a map is live, its usage reports show real sessions, map loads and flight and destination views, so the model can be replaced with measured numbers.