
It was probably the world’s largest ‘aerial billboard’ display. Fifteen helicopters in the skies of South Africa, clustered in three groups of five.
They appeared at sunset and all you could see was their lights; five shining, moving stars in the sky. Five stars over Johannesburg, five over Durban and five over Cape Town.
Five Star-ranked Qatar Airways was announcing its arrival in South Africa and the addition of Cape Town and Johannesburg to its network. The promotional campaign included full-page ads in national papers across South Africa over the weekend to explain the Five Star show. Events company Teamworks developed an idea suggested by the airline’s Doha headquarters and came up with a spectacular way of announcing Qatar Airways’ arrival in South Africa, contracting a local aviation company to construct powerful light systems rigged to the under-belly of each group of five helicopters. The helicopter pilots were then briefed to fly in perfect formation above each city for two-and-a-half hours on the night of January 28, stopping to hover over various targeted population areas for three to four minutes. The airline operates four flights a week between Doha and both South African cities.