- Elena Malykhina and Mike Shields

Continental Airlines today (Wednesday) signed a deal with Winstar Interactive Media to sell advertising on Continental's Web site.

The move by Continental is noteworthy, given that many airline sites—and most ecommerce sites in general—sell little to no third party advertising. But Continental and Winstar Interactive, which sells Internet advertising for branded sites, are banking on the appeal among brands of reaching the site’s 10 million monthly unique users, most of who are in a trip-planning frame of mind.

"Continental.com is an established online destination that over 10 million travel consumers visit each month for the specific purpose of purchasing and managing their airline travel needs," said Winstar Interactive CEO Adam Guild. "The extensive travel content combined with the user friendly atmosphere found on Continental.com creates an extremely conducive atmosphere for advertisers."

Winstar Interactive's client roster also includes Fodors.com, NASDAQ.com and Zagat.com.

The partnership is an extension of advertising options offered by other Continental platforms, where marketers engage with travelers during their trips, the airline said. Those media platforms that Continental creates and offers to advertisers include in-flight magazines and in-flight video.