Case of the Inflight Mag

Just curious. What’s your routine when you take your seat on an aircraft ?  Do you dive straight into a weighty novel or start perusing the film section or do you perhaps simply doze off ?  I somehow manage to oureach for the  inflight magazine.

But I’m certainly not alone. Since they first started appearing in cabins 60 years ago, the inflight magazine has become an essential part of the flying experience for millions of passengers. But nowadays we have smartphones and wi-fy increasingly creeping onto planes. And with their emergence, many people are asking if the inflight magazine is going to disappear forever. It’s something I often get asked and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t pondered the question. But my conclusion is always, in contrast to the bleak outlook of some, that inflight magazines could potentially play an even greater role in the broader media landscape.

Death Threat

Every time a new aircraft technology launches, the death of the inflight magazine is always predicted. It started when personal screens appeared in seatbacks 25 years ago. Then there was on-demand video content. Free newspapers. Gaming, too. But at every turn, the inflight magazine has survived. But is Wi-Fi the existential threat that will finally kill the inflight magazine?

Not if they keep up and raise their standards. Overall, inflight magazines don’t enjoy the greatest journalistic reputation and many have traded off their two fundamental advantages: their captive audience and massive distributions. In recent times, however, some airlines have shown an understanding of how enhancing their magazine can maximize the benefits of these advantages. That is, by focusing on producing great magazines that could live alongside any publication on any newsstand.

British Airways’ High Life has long been a standard bearer, Cathay Pacific’s Discovery has become one of the most thoughtful, artful publications in Asia, Spirit of Australia from Qantas has transformed into one of the nation’s leading lifestyle publications and Air Asia’s travel3sixty has evolved into the most sought after for it’s meticulously crafted content and stunning images.

Vision & the Future

Backed by ambition and vision from airlines, the inflight magazine can become a rare medium to experiment in the increasingly squeezed realm of print magazines. Wi-Fi needn’t be seen as it’s replacement either – consider the ways in which it can interact with the magazine on board. How about being able to read about that boutique hotel in Bangkok and then book a room inflight ? Or securing a table at that fab ramen bar in Niseko after reading about it ? An inflight magazine shouldn’t just be about destination guides and recommendations, though. Inflight is a refuge and we have lots of research that shows people highly value this ‘me’ time. Consider this –  In our busy ‘always on the go’ lives, where else (apart from the beach, maybe) do we get the chance to immerse ourselves in books and long-form journalism. It’s a mindset that inflight magazines should be tapping into.

Cathay Pacific has introduced what is known as a short story anthology section. It’s a space publishing short stories about destinations. A slightly different take on the type of features you’d usually find in an inflight magazine, but a small example of how the publications are innovating. Ironically though, rather than being the death knell of the inflight mag the online revolution in the media landscape may present its greatest opportunity. Of course today inflight mags also need to exist in the online space which presents an opportunity for airlines to expand their influence as media owners and influencers in the realm of travel inspiration – something airlines are uniquely placed to do.

Once upon a time, the content of an inflight magazine was confined to the aircraft cabin, something that could only be consumed at 35,000 feet. But with the creation of their own magazine microsites, there’s now an opportunity for airlines to have the best of both worlds: having a captive audience inflight and a mass market engagement online. In a travel media landscape increasingly populated by listicles, clickbait, paid editorials and KOLs, there’s an opportunity for the owned media of airlines to play an important role in quality, ambitious journalism, and to experiment with ideas like fiction that have become increasingly rare.

So, is the inflight magazine dying? Not anytime soon. But I’m sure I’ll be asked again when the next big tech breakthrough arrives. Hopefully by then, the answer will be clear –  the inflight magazine will be an indispensible part of travel journalism.