FLYING Media Group Acquires Heartland Publishing’s Aviation Portfolio

Heartland Publishing—a classified listings and buyer’s directory publisher that has been in business for more than 50 years—boasts more than a dozen aviation brands, including Business Air, Aviator’s Hotline, Aviator’s Properties, FBO and Charter Today, and AircraftforSale.com.

FLYING has budgeted millions of dollars toward technology, platform, and brand upgrades, focusing on reimagining the aviation marketplace.

As part of the brand overhaul, FLYING Media plans to create a new digital content-driven marketplace and luxury print edition that will combine the editorial and media resources of FLYING with the aviation listings business of Business Air, Aviator’s Hotline, and Aviator’s Properties.

“We believe that there is a massive opportunity to disrupt the digital aviation listings business and empower aircraft dealers with a content-supported marketplace and tools to drive more effective aircraft marketing campaigns. We plan on an unmatched digital experience for dealers and prospective aircraft owners. Our plans will be to launch our new envisioned dealer marketplace in Q3 2022,” said Preston Holland, COO of FLYING Media.

In addition, FLYING announced plans to go back to an expanded monthly print edition that will include a new section, FLYING Owner, that will focus on prospective and current aircraft owners. This will also include a beautifully designed aircraft listing registry.

“FLYING is the leading publication for pilots everywhere. With the expansion of FLYING Owner, we are also going to go much deeper on topics that current and prospective aircraft owners are interested in,” Holland stated.

In addition, FLYING plans to create a new B2B publication branded as Business Air. This new publication will cover the business and economics of the companies that service the aviation sector, with a focus on the charter, FBO, and business aviation verticals.

“We have been looking at the right entry point to create a high-frequency B2B news and editorial publication that offers data and editorial context to the business of aviation. Our editorial model will follow the one that I built at FreightWaves: high cadence, deep insights, and data driven context for participants in the global aviation industry,” said Craig Fuller, CEO of FLYING Media and founder of FreightWaves.

Plans are also under way to create a new digital aviation real-estate listings site, covering both residential and commercial aviation real estate.

The current Heartland aviation team will become part of the FLYING team. The new brands are scheduled to launch in late summer.

Advisory services for the sale of Heartland Communications Group Aviation Assets were exclusively provided by Jeff Gruenhut of Grimes, McGovern & Associates.