Legend pushes Hainan Airlines magazines

Legend Media, a leading China advertising company focused on selling ad space in airline magazines and major radio markets, today announced that Hainan Airlines has added three new nonstop routes. Legend Media owns an exclusive sales contract for Xinhua Airline Magazine, the in-flight publication for Hainan Airline Group, which reaches a potential audience of more than 20 million passengers per year and keeps growing as the airline expands operations.

Perhaps it is even more amazing to relate that this writer invented the regular inflight magazine. PanAm and Air France had both trialled the concept and then backed off.

The writer found Discovery for Cathay Pacific, Mabuhay for Philippine Airlines, Muhibbah for Royal Brunei. In those days they all made serious profits. The reason was simple —cigarettes. There was what was called the James Bond Syndrome which suggested that the only time a smoker would switch brands would be inflight. The tobacco companies fought to get advertising in the inflight magazines and fought even harder to get their cigarettes carried inflight.

Now cigarettes have stopped and the future of inflight magazines is iffy. They tend not to be thoroughly read. And the circulation depends entirely on how many you tell the aircraft cleaners to throw away. There are still a lot of them around but if the price of fuel seriously rises then this form of entertainment will disappear.