A cross analysis of oil spill data obtained by spaceborne and airborne sensors has shown that both systems alone are not capable of detecting all spills occurring. Only a combination of different systems can provide optimal coverage at moderate costs. As the Baltic Sea is overpassed by numerous in-service aircraft everyday, it is suggested to include these aircraft in the monitoring network. This would make oil spill monitoring more effective and the pollution control aircraft could concentrate on their main objectives: surveillance of hot spots; identification of polluters and on-scene coordination of clean-up operations. The potentials and limits of the proposed system were presented.