Startup Aims To Replace Banner-Towing Aircraft With Drones

Sustainable Skylines claims its drones will reduce the carbon footprint of traditional banner-towing aircraft by 90 percent.

Jack Daleo

Tuesday, May 09, 2023 at 04:19 PM ET

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A Sustainable Skylines drone drags a banner a few hundred feet off the ground. [Courtesy: Sustainable Skylines]

Key Takeaways:

Sustainable Skylines has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding to launch a drone-based advertising service, positioning it as a safer and more sustainable alternative to traditional airplane banner towing.
The service utilizes hybrid-electric drones, claiming a 90 percent reduction in carbon footprint, and includes an analytics platform to measure advertising effectiveness.
This new drone technology poses a significant threat to pilots who rely on banner towing for accumulating flight hours and income, potentially displacing them as drone operations become more cost-effective.

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For pilots, banner towing is considered an easy way to accrue flight hours or make a little extra money between trips. But a new service could soon eat up some of those flights.

Miami-based Sustainable Skylines on Tuesday announced that it has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding to support the initial launch of a drone-based advertising service, which it positions as a safer, more sustainable alternative to using airplanes.