BA and BMI vow to continue Offering in-flight magazines

British Airways maintains it will continue to produce High Life, its monthly in-flight magazine, following the news that Virgin is suspending Hot Air, its own quarterly, due to a drop in advertising.

BMI, which runs a small number of transatlantic flights but is mainly a European carrier, says that advertising for its in-flight magazine, Voyager, remains buoyant.

The two big transatlantic carriers are carrying out reviews of staffing levels and advertising costs due to the fall in business in the wake of the US terrorist attacks.

The new issue of High Life will be delivered to planes on October 1. The current issue has just been returned to BA planes after being removed so that three ads, felt insensitive in the wake of the terrorist action, could be removed.

Voyager advertising manager Sam Laite says: “The European routes have been sheltered, and it’s business as usual. Our core audience is businesspeople flying out of Heathrow, and our advertisers have not lost confidence.”

Hot Air is produced by John Brown Publishing under contract and will be suspended “until further notice” after the October 1 edition.