France, who resigned from Clear Channel last April, replaces Don Sperring who is moving to a new international role in the company, details of which have yet to be confirmed.
Reporting to UK chief executive Jeremy Male, France will lead JCDecaux's UK airport division that holds the contracts for 13 UK air and rail concessions including the 10-year BAA contract, worth an estimated £730m.
She will join the company on 16 April as it prepares to announce its plans for digital advertising across BAA airports, which is to coincide with the opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5. It is thought the move will be the biggest deployment of screens at any airport in the world, with an estimated investment of around £25m.
France joined Clear Channel in 1998 from Express Newspapers, but left after accidentally e-mailing confidential information about the rates paid by poster agencies for space on the company's poster sites to rival specialists.
She joined Avanti Screenmedia in June last year as managing director, but left in October to join taxi advertising company Ubiquitous as joint managing director with entrepreneur Andrew Barnett.
Jeremy Male referred to France as having a "first-class media pedigree".
"She brings loads of great sales experience, contacts and knowledge of the market, as well as great experience in handling franchises, which is all crucial to the role," he said. "When Terminal 5 opens it's going to be one of the showcases in airport advertising worldwide with a move to digital platforms, and delivering that in the next 12 months will be a key part of Julie's responsibilities."
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